DV Journal

While the U.S. Senate race is still too close to call and most of the primary battles across the Delaware Valley were settled Tuesday night, the GOP race in the Sixth Congressional District remains undecided.

Former Chester County Chamber of Commerce CEO Guy Ciarrocchi appears to have won the chance to take on incumbent U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan in the Chester/Berks district. But he hadn’t declared victory as of Wednesday afternoon. Two of his opponents, Regina Mauro and Ron Vogel, have already conceded his victory.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, Chiarrocchi had 23,116 votes, Steve Fanelli has 20,890, Vogel was at 15,396 votes and Maura had 10,336.

In Bucks County, Alex Entin lost his race to incumbent Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks/Montgomery). Fitzpatrick will face Democrat Ashley Ehasz in November.

In Montgomery County for the 4th Congressional District, GOP business executive Christian Nascimento defeated small business owner Daniel Burton Jr. Nascimento will try to unseat Democrat incumbent Democrat Rep. Madeleine Dean in the fall.

And in Delaware County, Republican David Galluch ran unopposed to challenge incumbent Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon.

In the statewide race for lieutenant governor, state Rep. Carrie DelRosso, beat nine others to become the Republican candidate for that office.

“I am honored that Pennsylvania Republicans have nominated me to carry the banner of common-sense conservatism in this year’s election,” said DelRosso. “I’m deeply grateful to my supporters and I have grown a deep respect for the others who added so much to the public dialogue in their own campaigns for lieutenant governor. We are always stronger when we have many voices in the room and I learned much from the other hopefuls and thank them for their commitment to a stronger commonwealth.”

Across the aisle, state Rep. Austin Davis prevailed over two others in the Democrats’ lieutenant governor primary. Cash-flush Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running for governor and had no primary opponent,  campaigned for Davis, running TV ads and even fielding a billboard truck that drove around West Chester earlier this week.

In the 24th state Senate District Republican Rep. Pennycuick bested David Moyer in the primary. Pennycuick was endorsed by retiring state Sen. Bob Mensch (R-Berks/Bucks/Montgomery). Pennycuick will face Democrat Jill Dennin, who defeated Emmanuel Wilkerson, in the fall. Dennin is a former substitute teacher and community volunteer.

“Thank you to everyone who voted in the primary yesterday,” Jill Dennin posted on Facebook. “My team and I are energized and there is a lot of work to be done between now and November. With so much at stake, we will need everyone’s help to reach all our voters.”

Pennycuick said, “I can’t thank the army of volunteers and supporters who backed my campaign through this primary election enough.  We enjoyed a big win yesterday. I was encouraged by the enthusiasm and energy of the voters. It is clear people are sick of the disastrous economic policies causing runaway inflation and skyrocketing grocery bills and gas prices, and I look forward to taking my message of commonsense economic, fiscal, and education policies to the entire electorate.”

In the 8th state Senate District, incumbent Anthony Hardy Williams (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) beat back a challenge from teacher Paul Prescod. No Republican is running in that district.

Bucks County Republican voters chose small business owner Bernie Sauer of Newtown Borough over marketing professional Jennifer Spillane in the GOP race in the 31st state House District. Sauer faces incumbent Democratic Rep. Perry Warren in the general election.

And in Delaware County, Democratic voters picked challenger Carol Kazeem, a community organizer backed by Working Families PA, over incumbent state Rep. Brian Kirkland in the 159th House District.  Kazeem will square off against Republican Ruth Moton in the fall.

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Republican Regina Mauro is running in the May 17 primary against three men. But she says she believes she is the best person running and will go on to knock off Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan in November. Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks) has been named one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the country and is being targeted by the Republican National Committee.

Mauro prides herself on being politically aware. That motivated her, in part, to seek the Republican nomination in the 6th Congressional District.

“I’ve always been very, very engaged and informed for years,” she said. “That’s how I was brought up.”

This isn’t Mauro’s first try for elective office. The Devon resident lost a bid for Chester County Controller last fall.

A lifelong Republican, Mauro sees a need to boost the number of conservative women in Congress. Her three opponents in the GOP primary race are men.

“I was concerned because I didn’t see any women candidates,” she said. “(The Republicans) definitely have an abundance of very qualified women.  So, seeing that and recognizing it was very important that we do have one in the race, I did my due diligence and I decided that I was ready for it.

“I’m also very concerned that the most underrepresented group in Congress is conservative women. Conservative women comprise just seven percent of Congress. All else being equal, you have to increase the representation of conservative women in Congress.

“I knew that I was equipped to be able to step in and not just be able to compete against the incumbent, but that I would be a very effective member of Congress.”

The daughter of Cuban immigrants, Mauro is passionate about education issues.

“Education is huge for me,” she said. “I grew up in a household where education was king. It was paramount. I’m really concerned that there is an inequality of quality in instruction in the 6th District.”

Mauro says adequate funding for education is an issue in some school districts but “that is not a universal problem.” She compared the academic performance of two school districts — which she did not name — located within the 6th District within approximately 20 miles of each other.

“When I looked at these two school districts, one spent slightly more on instruction and services than the other,” she said. “However, the one that’s spent slightly more performed at the bottom 20 percent academically in reading writing, and mathematics. The other performed in the upper 20 percent. So, that tells you there is a deficiency there.”

Mauro says she believes children should be able to attend the school that best meets their needs and bring their parents’ tax dollars with them.

“I do believe that tax dollars should follow the child,” she said, “and not be attached to the school they’re zoned for. That’s only step one; giving the parent the option of taking that money and transferring it to another school of their choice.

“In the meantime, we cannot abandon our local schools. At the end of the day, these local schools are part of the community. They’re a lot more accessible to the family and if given a choice, I think most parents, if the school was up to the standard they need for their child, would leave the kid there. So, while they have the option, we have to make sure that we bring those schools up to standard so those families can actually go back to that school.”

At a time when American politics is deeply divided, Mauro cites the need to get people of divergent political views to simply talk to each other.

“The first thing we have to do is lower the temperature,” she said. “We have to find things we have in common. We have more in common than not. But we have become so tribal. Everybody is so in their tribe, in their corner that we’re not talking to each other.

“We need to stop this. Most of us, Democrats and Republicans, are sort of in the middle. We need to stop grouping people by single ideas.”

Asked about her reaction to January 6 both before and after the events that occurred at the U.S. Capitol, she said,  “It was horrible that some lunatics, some were excited. Some were just following, whatever the participation. They absolutely felt it was okay to go (into the Capitol). Not all of them did obviously, you’ve seen plenty of videos where people are walking in like a tourist in line.

“But there are those who actually broke in. And that’s insanity to me,” she said. “What I regretted was the media portrayed everybody who attended that rally as being insurrectionists.”

Mauro was asked if she believed the result of the 2020 presidential election was legitimate.

“Do I think there was manipulation? Yes,” she said. “Do I think that was what caused the final result? Partly. Do I think this is new? No. There has been manipulation of elections forever.”

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Voters head back to the polls for the May 17 primary in what is shaping up to possibly be a historic election season in Pennsylvania.

Only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in the upcoming election as the Keystone State remains one of nine states with closed primaries.

Election officials in Delaware, Chester, Bucks, and Montgomery Counties expect between 25 to 30 percent voter turnout.

Pennsylvania’s redistricting process caused some delays in mailing out ballots, election officials said. Local counties sent tens of thousands of mail-in ballots, but requests in some areas were down from previous elections.

The mail-in option, popular during the COVID-19 pandemic, is still available to voters in the primary, as the state Supreme Court mulls over whether to keep intact Act 77 following a lower-court decision overturning the controversial law.

This time, election officials are bracing for an influx of in-person voting as the public health crisis wanes.

“In 2020, you had the perfect storm of new voting equipment, new options for voters, and the pandemic. And people wanting to vote at a distance,” said James Allen, director of election operations for Delaware County. “It was pre-vaccine. It was at a time when nationwide we were experiencing horrific levels of deaths and hospitalizations. Now we’re past that.”

The gubernatorial race has been bruising for the GOP, with nine contenders in a crowded field vying for the party’s nomination ahead of a fall race that is expected to shatter state campaign spending records.

The field includes  Republicans state Sen. Jake Corman, former Congressman Lou Barletta, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale, GOP consultant Charlie Gerow, former Congresswoman Melissa Hart, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain, business owner and former Delaware County Councilman Dave White, and Nche Zama, a cardiothoracic surgeon. Attorney General Josh Shapiro does not face a primary challenger as the lone Democrat in the race.

With nearly $18 million in his campaign war chest Shapiro, in his second term as attorney general, outraised all of his GOP opponents combined. Shapiro is no stranger to politics. He is a former state representative and served as chair of the Montgomery County commissioners.

He will have a leg up in the general election as Democrats look to keep control of the executive branch, currently led by the term-limited Gov. Tom Wolf, in a state where the General Assembly has been controlled by Republicans for nearly seven years.

White has infused millions of his own cash into his campaign and is banking on blue-collar appeal to put him over the top.

“We’re expecting a big voter turnout,” said Tom McGarrigle, chairman of the Delaware County Republican Committee. “We have one of our own. He’s our focus of the election.”

With the U.S. Senate evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, both parties are all in to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, who opted not to seek reelection.

Much attention has been given to Dr. Mehmet Oz, better known by his TV personality Dr. Oz, and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, one of four Democrats running for the seat.

The Democratic field includes U.S. Rep. Connor Lamb and Alex Khalil, a Jenkintown Borough councilwoman known for activism in Montgomery County but considered a longshot in the race.

Meanwhile, frontrunner Fetterman has been hammered by opponents over an incident in 2013, when he was mayor of majority-Black Braddock Borough, where he detained a Black jogger at shotgun-point after hearing what he thought was gunfire in the area.

Opponent state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta accused the popular lieutenant governor of acting like “f–ing Batman” and called on him to apologize to the jogger, Christopher Miyares.

Democrats worry Fetterman’s refusal to own up to the mistake could depress the Black vote in urban areas and leave him vulnerable to attacks from Oz, who hopes to capitalize on an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

“Democrats understand that control of the federal Congress is paramount,” said Joe Foster, chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Committee. “These are races you can’t take lightly.”

A cardiothoracic surgeon who amassed great personal wealth, Oz has positioned himself as an outsider since announcing his candidacy.

He is widely considered the man to beat in a field of seven Republicans that includes attorney Sean Gale, a Montgomery County lawyer, whose brother, Joe, is also running for governor; commentator Kathy Barnette; Montgomery County developer Jeff Bartos, George Bochetto, a Philadelphia lawyer; Hedge fund CEO David McCormick and Carla Sands, the former ambassador to Denmark in the Trump administration.

In the lieutenant governor race, state Rep. Austin Davis was handpicked by Shapiro as a running mate.

Delaware County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Colleen Guiney called Davis a “man of tremendous integrity and honor” among the slate of Dems running in the primary.

“I will stand by any one of our candidates,” she said. “There will always be questions about one little thing here or there. I see what the Republicans have done, I see what Toomey has done, and I  can’t imagine that any Democrat would vote in a way Toomey has voted.”

Chester County

Chester County expects between six to eight poll workers per precinct. As of April 26, 36,514 people requested mail-in ballots, compared with nearly 87,000 in the 2020 primary and a little more than 38,000 in last year’s primary, election officials said. The county had at least 155,797 registered Democrats compared with 150,933 registered Republicans.

Montgomery County

The county has roughly 1,800 poll workers for all of its 426 precincts, said Dori Sawyer director of Montgomery County Office of Voter Services. It is seeking more poll workers in Abington, Cheltenham, Green Lane, Lower Merion, Perkiomen, Plymouth, Skippack, Upper Moreland, and Upper Salford. Those interested in helping must be registered to vote in the county. They can reach out by email at [email protected] or by phone at 610-278-3280. The county processed about 70,000 mail-in ballots applications.

The county has 298,266 registered Democrats and 204,195 registered Republicans. Those not registered with a party have until May 2 to change affiliations so they can vote in the primary.

Bucks County

The county has staffed about 1,600 poll workers but is looking for additional help in Bristol Township, Falls Township, Middletown Township, and Warminster Township. More than 52,000 voters requested mail-in ballots, compared with more than 67,000 last November. The county is split 202,056 Democrats to 194,002 Republicans, with nearly another 80,000 unaffiliated voters who cannot vote in the primary.

Delaware County

Delaware County processed more than 31,000 mail-in ballots for the upcoming primary. It will have 40 secure drop boxes kept under surveillance throughout the day. The county had 202,337 registered Democrats compared with 150,539 Republicans. Republican state Rep. candidate Robert Jordan, running in the 165th Legislative District, was removed from the ballot by the state Supreme Court, but election officials said his name may still appear on some of the early mail-in ballots. Any votes for him will not be counted.

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Ron Ron Vogel is back.

The Republican candidate for Congress who hopes to take on incumbent Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks) in November took a brief hiatus after what he called a “hit piece” on him ran in the Daily Local News recently. The article slammed him for a video he shared on social media years ago. Vogel said he had a “family huddle” and his wife. She told him that he needed to keep fighting.

Supporters also rallied around him after an article appeared in the same publication saying he was quitting the race.

“Sure enough, it had the total opposite effect,” said Vogel. “I got flooded with hundreds, hundreds, of phone calls, emails, text messages where people were like, ‘You have to fight on. You’ve got to do this. We need you, etc.’ It was very, very humbling.”

“’We saw the article. We know it’s nonsense,’” he said people told him. “Notice they didn’t show the post,” he noted about that article. “If they showed it, they wouldn’t have had a story. Very, very sad. It’s been on YouTube for literally 10 years.”

“I have to fight on,” Vogel continued. “Our country needs people fighting for it.”

Vogel, who is taking a break from his real estate career to run for office, said he would be taking a pay cut if he is elected.

“I’m doing this to give my kids a better future, to give this country a better future,” said Vogel, who is the father of three children.

He also told the Delaware Valley Journal he believes he is the one who will be able to help smooth over differences that have separated his friends and neighbors.

“America has become so divided,” he said. “I remember, as a kid and as a teenager, Republicans and Democrats had their different viewpoints, but they were kind of closer to the middle. Now, neighbors can’t get along. I want to try to bridge that gap. We all love America. We have more in common than our differences.”

Rep. Chrissy Houlahan

Along with Vogel, three other candidates are running in the Republican primary: Guy Ciarrocchi, CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry; businesswoman Regina Mauro; and business owner Steve Fanelli. Bob Kennedy is no longer in the race.

“I’m the only one who was recommended by both Chester and Berks County (Republican committees),” said Vogel. “I think I’m the frontrunner, and when you’re the frontrunner this is what happens.”

Meanwhile, Houlahan has been targeted by the GOP as one of the most vulnerable Democrat incumbents this year.

“Republicans are on offense all across the country,” NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer said. “Every House Democrat is facing an uphill battle having to defend their toxic socialist agenda that prioritizes trillion-dollar tax hikes on the middle class, opens our borders, closes our schools. and defunds the police.”

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From a press release

Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline approved today the creation of the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority, completing the approval last week of the Authority by the Commissioners from Berks and Montgomery Counties.

The Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority (SRPRA) will oversee and implement the restoration of passenger rail service between Reading and Philadelphia and will be supported with equal representation and funding from all three counties, starting with a $100,000 investment.  The SRPRA will have the power to formalize agreements, pursue funding opportunities and partner with rail operators and state and federal transportation agencies.

Each County held a public hearing to consider the creation of the passenger rail authority and during those hearings, the commissioners heard a groundswell of support from their respective communities as many residents, business owners and community leaders voiced their excitement about the prospect of the return of passenger rail. Berks and Montgomery counties approved resolutions to create the authority during their respective meetings on April 21, followed by Chester County approving the resolution on April 27.

Information about the initiative and the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority can be found at www.chesco.org/passengerrail.

The creation of the SRPRA is not a guarantee that passenger rail will return, but it is a crucial next step to continue the long process of research and planning. Commissioners from each County noted that while there had been talk of restoring passenger rail service before, this is the first time any type of initiative has gotten this far. County leaders are also optimistic that this effort will be successful due to the potential funding available through the federal bipartisan infrastructure bill.

The SRPRA will be reevaluated and up for reauthorization by all three counties in three years to give county officials an opportunity to determine if it is still a worthwhile effort. The Authority will consist of nine members, with three appointees from each county.  The following individuals were approved as the inaugural members of the Authority:

• Christian Leinbach, Berks County Commissioner

• Marian Moskowitz, Chester County Commissioner

• Kenneth Lawrence Jr., Montgomery County Commissioner

• Jim Gerlach, President of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance

• Eddie Moran, Reading Mayor

• Brian O’Leary, Director of the Chester County Planning Commission

• Peter Urscheler, Phoenixville Mayor

• Scott France, Director of the Montgomery County Planning Commission

• David Zellers, Director of the Montgomery County Commerce Department

The SRPRA was formed after the Tri-County Passenger Rail Committee spent a year exploring the most efficient manner to restore passenger rail service to the region. The Committee was a nine-member group comprised of one County Commissioner from each county and other local leaders. The members of the committee are confident that passenger rail service in places like Reading, Pottstown and Phoenixville could potentially generate more than $1 billion in new property development and existing property value increases, which translates to thousands of jobs and the expansion of local and federal tax bases over the next 30 years. Further, passenger rail service would provide transportation and job opportunities to underserved minority communities and immediately impact some of the largest clusters of low- and moderate-income households in the suburbs of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

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Chester County election officials want residents to know the mailings voters are receiving from Democrat-affiliated nonprofits are not official and they are not coming from the county.

“Two political advocacy groups, the Voter Participation Center (VPC) and the Center for Voter Information (CVI), will be conducting unsolicited direct mailings to Pennsylvania residents consisting of voter registration applications and vote-by-mail applications,” a county spokesperson said Monday. “These mailings will reportedly arrive on or about Monday, April 25, and are not endorsed by, or affiliated with, the Chester County Board of Elections or Chester County Voter Services.”

And those groups “bear all responsibility for the mailings, including any mailings that contain incorrect information,” the county said.

Tom Lopach is president and CEO of the VPC and CVI. He said the Washington, D.C.-based group sending mailings to voters statewide wants to register what Lopach calls “the new American majority.”

He said that “majority” is comprised of “people of color, young people and unmarried women.” Those groups tend to register to vote and turn out to vote in lower numbers than other groups. CVI and its sister group, VPC, also help turn out those voters.

“Our mission is to help increase voters in these three groups,” Lopach told Delaware Valley Journal.  He has been involved with the organization since March 2020 and said registering voters is “a proud thing to do” and “very patriotic.”

Lopach is also a longtime Democratic operative who has worked on multiple campaigns. The progressive news organization Pro Publica reported his organizations’ efforts pouring millions of unsolicited voter registrations into mailboxes during the 2020 election created confusion among voters and consternation among election officials.

“It’s not about the good that one organization does,” Jared Dearing, director of Kentucky’s State Board of Elections and a Democrat said at the time. “It’s about the net value for the whole system. If you register one person but create so much anxiety and consternation, how many voters get so turned off they don’t interact with the system at all?”

CPI sent 2.2 million vote-by-mail applications to registered voters in Pennsylvania. Lopach said they use forms that were approved by the state.

According to Lopach’s definition, the “new American majority” includes 5 million people in Pennsylvania or 52 percent of the state’s voting-eligible population. People 18 to 35 years old are about 29 percent of those eligible to vote; people of color, including Blacks and Hispanics, are 18 percent; and single women are 26 percent.

Asked whether his organization had received funding from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, so-called “Zuck Bucks” that some believe helped sway the 2020 election for Democrats, Lopach said his organization does not discuss donors, nor is it required to disclose its donors, who are foundations and individuals.

“We are reminding Pennsylvania voters that voting in primary elections is easy. In Pennsylvania you can vote by mail, early in-person, or in-person on Election Day,” Lopach said. “We are providing more than 2.2 million registered Pennsylvania voters with official vote-by-mail applications, allowing them to sign them and drop them in the mail without ever leaving their homes. So make your plan to vote today and participate in our great democracy.”

“CVI and its sister organization, the Voter Participation Center (VPC), together run the nation’s largest mail-based and digital voter engagement programs,” the groups said in a press release. “In 2020, VPC and CVI helped 4.6 million voters sign up to vote by mail.”

While Lopach insists his groups are nonpartisan, others disagree with that assessment.

According to research by Hayden Ludwig of the think tank Capital Research Center, Lopach’s two organizations were founded by Page Gardner, who was a campaign staffer for former President Bill Clinton. Lopach said he knows Gardner but added he did not realize she had worked for Clinton. Lopach also has a background in Democratic politics. He had previously worked for Democrat Steve Bullock, former governor of Montana, and was executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“Gardner’s groups take advantage of IRS rules allowing nonprofits to engage in nonpartisan voter registration to target the ‘new American majority’—a group that gave more than 60 percent of its votes to Biden in 2020,” Ludwig said.

“The nonprofits are hardly ‘nonpartisan.’ CVI, the network’s 501(c)(4), spent $583,000 directly aiding Biden—but it’s their support for voting by mail that should concern conservatives. Unlike the right, the left is all in on funding groups that do nothing more than voter registration,” according to Ludwig. The mail-in ballots were to “flood key states with tens of millions of mail-in ballots.”

Charlotte Valyo, chair of the Chester County Democrats, said she has not had contact with either group. Chester County Republican Chairman Gordon Eck could not be reached for comment.

May 2 is the last day to register to vote in the May 17 primary. As of April 18, Chester County had 373,975 registered voters. Of those, 150,606 were Republicans and 155,604 were Democrats.

Anyone who receives an unsolicited VPC or CVI mailing who wants to be removed from the group’s mailing list must note a code near the bottom of the letter and email the code to the correct organization, county officials said.

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From a press release

The Chester County Commissioners and the County’s Parks and Preservation staff marked the significance of Earth Day with the official opening of a two-mile section of the County’s final portion of the Schuylkill River Trail.

The Friday afternoon event attracted hundreds of people, including trail partners from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, PennDOT, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, and officials from surrounding municipalities.

“This is the perfect day to celebrate more miles of the Schuylkill River Trail,” said Chester County Commissioners’ Vice-Chair Josh Maxwell.

“Many people think that building a trail is relatively easy, but there are so many factors that go into every mile of trail like this,” added Maxwell.  “The wait is worth it though, as confirmed by the hundreds of thousands of people who use our three County-owned trails every year for walking, jogging and cycling – not just recreationally, but also for commuting.

“The option to commute on our larger trails like the Schuylkill River Trail and Chester Valley Trail is increasingly being encouraged by employers, and taken up by employees looking for safe, economic and environmentally-friendly ways to get to work,” noted Maxwell.

Chester County Commissioners Michelle Kichline and Josh Maxwell pedal on the new trail.

The final phase of Chester County’s portion of the Schuylkill River Trail is a $6 million, four-mile paved extension that takes the trail from Linfield Road at Parker Ford to the new Route 422 Bridge crossing of the Schuylkill River at the Montgomery County border.  With the completion of this phase, Chester County’s total section of the Schuylkill River Trail will parallel the Schuylkill River from the Route 422 Bridge at Pottstown, south to the Route 29 Bridge into Mont Clare, a distance of approximately 12 miles.

The County’s final segment of the trail is also important because it is one of the key puzzle pieces that helps fill a gap in the 60 miles of the Schuylkill River Trail that connects Reading to Philadelphia.

“The benefits of having trails close to home are plenty, and they are proven,” said Chester County Commissioner Michelle Kichline, speaking at the trail opening.

“Trails provide safe places for physical activity which can improve mental, as well as physical health. The option for travel and commuting by trail has obvious environmental benefits.

“But larger trails like the Schuylkill River Trail are also economically beneficial, because they have the power to drive tens of millions of dollars in tourism and revenue for local businesses.”

Chester County’s group of regional trails includes the Schuylkill River Trail, the Chester Valley Trail and the Struble Trail.  Combined, the three trails attracted 896,000 users in 2021.  For more information, and maps of all three trails, visit www.chesco.org/trails.

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On Friday, Earth Day, Chester County officials plan to cut the ribbon on a new section of trail running along the Schuylkill River.

The public is invited to the event, hosted by the Chester County Commissioners and Chester County Parks and Preservation staff, which begins at 2 p.m. at 500 Fricks Lock Road in Pottstown.

This is part of Chester County’s final phase of trail development – a $6 million, four-mile paved extension that takes the Schuylkill River Trail from Linfield Road at Parker Ford to the new Route 422 Bridge crossing of the Schuylkill River at the Montgomery County border, officials said.  The four-mile extension will complete one of the priority “puzzle pieces”, helping fill a gap in the nearly 60 miles of trail connecting Reading to Philadelphia.

With the completion of this phase, the Chester County Section of the Schuylkill River Trail will parallel the Schuylkill River from the Route 422 Bridge at Pottstown, south to the Route 29 Bridge into Mont Clare, a distance of approximately 12 miles.

Chester County Commissioners Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline, along with state DCNR Deputy Secretary Mike Walsh, PennDOT District 6-0 Acting Executive Lou Belmonte, Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia Executive Director Sarah Clark Stuart, and East Coventry Township Supervisor Chair Ray Kolb are expected to comment.

According to the Schuylkill Greenways group, there are about 75 miles of the trail, which starts in Philadelphia and will run to Schuylkill County, completed.

Following the program and ribbon cutting, you can cycle or walk a portion of the trail south of Fricks Lock Village, or complete a guided tour of Fricks Lock Village hosted by the East Coventry Township Historical Commission.

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From a press release

Following a months-long search for the ideal candidate, Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline have appointed Erik Walschburger as Deputy County Administrator. He will support County Administrator Bobby Kagel in the supervision and direction of all county government programs and administrative operations.

Walschburger comes to the Commissioners’ Office from the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, where he most recently led the Appellate Unit and prepared and presented cases before the Pennsylvania Superior and Supreme Courts. He previously oversaw all of the diversionary programs and Treatment Courts for the District Attorney’s Office.

The Commissioners noted that Walschburger has earned his new responsibilities through his outstanding efforts for the county.

“Erik has distinguished himself in his leadership role at the District Attorney’s Office, and we anticipate that he will help us bring greater control and cost efficiencies to the departments he will oversee,” the commissioners said.

“The county’s population has grown by 60 percent since 1980, and that growth has brought new challenges in the areas of public safety, affordable housing, public health, and land use, among others. These issues are placing greater demands on the County Administrator’s Office. Having a deputy administrator back in place, especially a person of Erik’s caliber, will help us be more proactive and strategic in assuring we serve our residents at the highest level.”

Currently, County Administrator Kagel has 21 department heads reporting to him. By adding Walschburger, he will have fewer direct reports. The change will allow him to devote more time and attention toward working with the commissioners on critical issues like trying to reopen two recently closed county hospitals and ensuring that elections run smoothly.

“I look forward to collaborating with Erik in service to our community,” Kagel said. “He is very familiar with the workings of county government and has demonstrated over the past decade-plus that he possesses the skillset required to help me fulfill our office’s responsibilities.”

Walschburger received his law degree from Widener University after graduating from Temple University.

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Chester County commissioners held a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night. But the topic that dominated was not on the agenda. It was confidence in elections.

Frustration over how Chester County handles the voting process began last November following the 2021 municipal elections. The number of residents showing up to voice their discontent has only grown.

Attendees patiently waited in the Henrietta Hankin Branch Library until the general public comment period. Their main demand? A forensic audit of the 2021 general election.

“This is America,” said Cathy Ingham. “We, the people, demand free and fair elections with no fraud.”

Their lack of confidence in the election results stems from reported issues of USBs not properly reporting ballots, bags of votes being discovered late in the counting, and jammed scanners that reportedly sometimes shredded ballots.

“The problem is we had a dishonest election,” William Jack Shipe told the commissioners.

Michael Taylor, solicitor for the Republican Committee of Chester County, was in the counting room during the general election last year and started voicing concerns then. Since November’s outburst of activism, he detailed progress being made with the county.

“Myself, the Democratic solicitor, and a representative from the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania have been sitting down once a month with the county solicitor and voter services staff to go over the problems we have seen, and try to improve the system,” said Taylor.

But those talks have not led many advocating for electoral reforms to be less angry.

“I feel like I’m asking the fox to secure the henhouse because there’s no reaction from [the commissioners] at all,” said Ingham, describing how commissioners gave little response to the demands for a forensic audit.

Taylor said lingering frustration stems from the lack of an audit. Without it, he says a determination cannot be made whether the election was secure or not. That leaves residents frustrated.

While Taylor said he has made some progress on the audit in discussions with interested parties, movement in the Chester County Democratic Committee appears non-existent.

“The request for a forensic audit is nothing more than an attempt to use an audit to overturn duly certified elections,” Democratic Chair Charlotte Valyo told Delaware Valley Journal in a statement.

Despite the disagreement on the audit, Valyo said there has been more bipartisanship in the creation of new processes to secure elections in the county. “These processes further bolstered the already rigorous election protocols and addressed the concerns submitted by the Republican and Democratic parties,” she said.

Some speakers at the commission meeting recounted anecdotes of their troubles voting. Diane Houser was one of them. In the 2020 general election, she voted in person and returned her incomplete mail-in ballot to prove she could do so. But she recently learned her vote was not counted.

“Hey, how many other people did this happen to?” she asked. “My question is, why were our votes not tabulated after our votes were put in the voting machine.”

Many also voiced concerns about mail-in ballots.

“What did the last three elections have in common?” Christopher Manos asked the crowd. “We all went to bed having decisively won these past three elections. And election victory margins were whittled away by the scam commonly known as mail-in balloting.”

A top priority for county Republicans has been education on mail-in ballots. It is important the base understands the process so therefore they can have confidence in it, Taylor told DVJ in November. Since then, Taylor said, progress has been made.

“I’ve been going around to some of our local areas and just talked to them for five or 10 minutes about how the process works and what you can expect,” he said. “That’s been very productive.” As people learn that mail-in ballots get counted later, they realize it’s not about ballots being pumped into the system, Taylor said.

But other concerns remain besides mail-in balloting. Chief among them are drop boxes. The County Republicans would prefer they are eliminated, but if that cannot happen they support adequate surveillance at sites and more security measures to make sure only each person is casting their own vote.

Top of mind is the upcoming primary elections in May. The goal is to avoid another contentious count, Taylor said, and he believes the election is on track to go more smoothly than last November’s contest.

“The new policies that the voter services have put in place [do] offer more protections,” Taylor said. He added since May is a primary election there’s less concern. The plan is to ‘see what happens in May, and then continue to grow on that.’”

And while Taylor was clear he believed the county and other interested parties had been working together in good faith, he also was clear he is not pleased with the current state of play.

“We need to keep working toward protecting the mail-in ballots and following the rule of law,” he said. “I would say it’s a work in progress and I encourage the board of commissioners and all parties involved to continue to work to better the system.”

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