Conservative Analysis of the 2020 Pennsylvania Budget and the Voting Machine Upgrade Funding

The Republican-majority General Assembly approved a $34 billion budget for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolfe, a liberal Democrat, for the fiscal year 2020 that began this month.

The spending increased 6% over last year, most significantly because of increases for education.  Because the budget includes a surplus, $300 million was allocated to the rainy day fund, although the Commonwealth’s debt increased to $1.3 billion.  

There was no tax increase, despite Wolf’s perennial plea for additional taxes on the natural gas industry.  The Legislature also rejected the Governor’s plan to raise the minimum wage.  However there was no pension reform or privatization of alcohol that could have saved the state billions of dollars and the General Assembly also rejected Wolf’s plan to impose a fee on municipalities that rely on State Police for free instead of funding their own police.

The budget does not appropriate funds for upgrading voting machines to those that are less vulnerable to hacking by allowing for a paper backup, as recommended by federal security agencies, after the Russian Federation the hacked election offices of all fifty States in 2016 and also some Counties.  The Governor was instead authorized by the budget to float $90 million, in addition to $14.5 million in federal money, to assist Pennsylvania’s Counties, which are responsible for conducting elections.  The Commonwealth has taken other cybersecurity measures.

Foreign Digest: Greece, European Union, Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine and Hong Kong

Greece

            The new center-right Greek Government had campaigned on closer ties with the European Union and its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  It recognized Juan Guaido last week as the interim President of Venezuela.

European Union

            The German Center-right Defense Minister was elected President of the European Commission last week.  The Italian center-right former President of Parliament was chosen as the head of the European Commission for Constitutional Affairs.  As I noted in my last post, a center-left Italian replaced him as parliamentary head and as I had posted earlier in May in my post Pro-Europeans, Center Right Won a Plurality of the Votes, Despite Gains by the Far-Right, https://williamcinfici.blogspot.com/2019/05/pro-europeans-center-right-won-european.html, the center-right won a plurality of the votes, despite gains by the “nationalist” far-right, with a large majority for pro-European Union parties from the center-right to the center-left.

The EU voted to require members to apply sanctions to Venezuela and to recognize Guaido as interim President. 

Venezuela

            Norway has been hosting mediation between the Socialist dictatorship and interim President Juan Guaido in Barbados.  The latter, who is the leader of the democratic opposition, had invoked a constitutional provision as leader of the national assembly to declare himself president because of the lack of free and fair elections and because the regime had supplanted the assembly with another body that was less representative.

Russia

            There was a protest last week against the lack of free and fair elections.  The authoritarian and kleptocratic regime of Vladimir Putin declares candidates it opposes to be ineligible for election.  As usual, there were arrests because the freedom to assemble peacefully is not tolerated by the tyrant.

Ukraine

            The party of the new Ukrainian President has won the parliamentary elections yesterday with a plurality of votes, but a majority of seats.  It won four times as many votes as the pro-Russian party.  The Russian Federation invaded Ukraine in 2014, seizing Crimea in violation of its treaty with Ukraine to recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Soviet Republic, and foments a rebellion by Russian-speakers in Eastern Ukraine.

Hong Kong

           Protests have continued in Hong Kong against the Peking-backed legislature of Hong Kong that has been helping the Chinese Communists to erode the autonomy of the former British territory that China had promised to let keep its autonomy and freedom when the territory reverted to Chinese rule in 1997.  The protests had forced the withdrawal of a proposed law that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, a tool that could have been used to stifle dissent, but the people of Hong Kong continue to defend their autonomy and freedom from encroachment from Peking.  

Foreign Digest Updates: Sudan, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Italy and Greece

Sudan

            The military-led Sudanese government reached an agreement last week with the democratic opposition to rotate power over the next four years.  The agreement came after authorities had violently cracked down on protests, which led to the undoing of a previous agreement.  The military had seized power from the longtime Islamist tyrant.

Venezuela

            Protests continue in Venezuela after a United Nations human rights body found that rights have been eroded by the Socialist dictatorship. 

Hong Kong

            Massive protests have continued in Hong Kong against the violations of autonomy and freedom by the Communist Chinese Government, in violation of Peking’s agreement with the United Kingdom after the British returned the special administrative territory to Chinese rule in 1997.  The protestors had succeeded in delaying the Hong Kong legislature’s consideration of a law that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, a tool that could have been used to intimidate legitimate political dissent.

Italy

            The populist Italian Government avoided an infraction penalty last week from the European Union for exceeding its budget deficit limit by parliamentary passage of a 7-billion dollar adjustment that was helped by fewer applications for the Government’s expanded welfare program and increase pension benefits than expected.  The Italian Republic has one of the largest sovereign debts in the world, both in absolute terms and in terms of a share of the gross domestic product.  It is recovering from a brief and mild recession, but only slowly, and only recently has returned to its pre-debt crisis economic level.  The Government claims its policies are intended to increase economic growth.  Tax cuts are being planned.

Greece

           The center-right won the Greek parliamentary elections today, defeating the far-left party that had governed with a right-wing anti-European Union pro-Russian (i.e. pro-tyrant and oligarch Vladimir Putin) party.  The far-left had suffered a loss in the European parliamentary elections last month.  The conservatives will return to power for the first time in four years with a majority.  The main center-left party, once the main rival to the center-right, came in a distant third, with other far-left parties and a traditionalist right wing party among those obtaining seats.  Greece has been recovering from a depression after its 2015 debt crisis.  The Hellenic Republic had one of the worst sovereign debt burdens in the world before the European Union bailed it out in exchange for massive budget cuts.  

May Americans Reassert Their Independence by Deterring Foreign Political Interference

            Happy Independence Day.  As I noted in 2017, it is imperative for Americans to renew their declaration of independence by implementing effective countermeasures to thwart and deter foreign interference in United States politics.

            The Report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller found that the Russian Federation, led by authoritarian and kleptocrat Vladimir Putin, had engaged in a “sweeping and systematic” attack on American politics, starting in 2014.  This report detailed only a part of the Kremlin’s active measures campaign, as the Special Counsel was focused only on prosecuting crimes.  U.S. intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee, security experts and investigative reporters have been gradually uncovering the breadth of the Russian attack that violated the sovereignty and self-determination of Americans and which was effective at undermining confidence in elections and in the truth, dividing Americans against each other and turning many Americans into Russian agents by amplifying propaganda and disinformation or even by organizing or participating in rallies.  The attacks first set the stage for pro-Putin presidential candidates and then were conducted in support of the Russian tyrant’s preferred candidates for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations and ultimately in support of the GOP nominee.  All of these intelligence and security entities warn that the attacks by the Kremlin continue, as similar Russian attacks have been occurring against European States.  They also observe attempts by other hostile foreign attackers and note additional vulnerabilities.  These experts have provided many recommendations for countermeasures.

            One recommendation from U.S. intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security is for election machines that provide voter-verifiable paper backup to deter hacking by rendering it ineffective at altering the results of voting machines.  The Kremlin active measures campaign included hacking into state and even voting systems and voter rolls.  Although it is not known that any changes were made to voter registrations or if any votes were altered, the attack exposed vulnerabilities and undermined confidence in elections.  Pennsylvania’s Governor has de-certified those voting machines that are vulnerable to hacking and the Commonwealth has appropriated a limited amount of funding to the 67 Counties responsible for conducting elections, many of which are financially unable to bear the additional burden.  The Republicans in the General Assembly, where they are in the majority in both chambers, oppose the Governor’s plan.  The Senate voted to delay its implementation.  Pennsylvania remains one of the few States in the Union, and the largest “battleground” state not to have converted to machines that deter hacking by providing paper backup.

As both federal and state elections are vulnerable and as the matter concerns an attack on the United States by a hostile foreign power, federal funds to help Pennsylvania convert to the voting machines that deter hacking are essential.  I call upon the U.S. to provide adequate funding to States to protect elections from foreign interference and to defend representative government. 

Elections should be the free choice of Americans, not foreign powers, especially hostile authoritarian ones, if the United States of America is to maintain its independence.  May God Bless America.