The Chairman of the Schuylkill County Democratic Committee says the party is “very disappointed but not surprised” by the District Attorney’s decision Friday to switch his affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
Todd Zimmerman, Chairman of SCDC, called O’Pake a “political chameleon” and says his claims about the national Democrat Party are false.
On Friday, O’Pake announced that he’s switching to the Republican Party, believing that national Democrats and the party’s platform doesn’t align with his beliefs anymore.
Zimmerman, in a statement released on Saturday evening, says, “The Republican Chamber of Commerce’s wealthy donating circle tried to seduce O’Pake to change parties four years ago. O’Pake assured the committee that he was a commited Democrat and eventually ran unopposed.
“While O’Pake might be welcomed by the Republican donor elite, the MAGA base does not tolerate political chameleons. I expect they will primary him for the May 20 election. And after what he said about Democrats, he is unlikely to get much, if any, support from us,” Zimmerman adds.
The Democrat chairman also says, as O’Pake claimed, that his party is not for defunding the police. Instead, he blames Republicans and “Trump supporters” for acts that hint at wanting to defund the police.
“It was Trump supporters who stormed the capital and wounded the Capitol police. Hundreds of insurrectionists were arrented and convicted by local juries. We also need a strong FBI to combat foreign and domestic terrorists, as the incidents on New Years in New Orleans and Las Vegas make tragically clear. Kash Patel, Trump’s choice to lead the FBI, has said he wants to blow it up. To me, that is defunding the police,” Zimmerman says.
Zimmerman also says “We all want a secure border,” and then repeats a Democrat talking point about a supposed “bipartisan bill” in Congress last year that his party claims Trump pressured some in the House of Representatives to reject.
“We all agree that criminals should be deported, and they have been,” Zimmerman says. “Due to our declining birth rate, we need legal immigrants. Many immigrants perform low skill and paying jobs behind the scenes in restaurants, warehouses, nursing, etc. Local businesses will be hurt when Trump’s mass deportation plans are enacted. Many American citizens that have foreign accents will be targeted by white supremacists.”
Zimmerman also references other points O’Pake touched on in his reasoning for leaving the party in the rest of his statement released Saturday.
He says, “Child safety and gun reform are linked. We all want our schools to be safe. We are no longer crawling under our desks to protect ourselves from a hypothetical nuclear attack. Instead, our children and grandchildren are being trained to cope with an active shooter. The majority of Americans want solid background checks. They also believe that military style weapons, such as the AR-15 should not be in the hands of the average American. Common ground can also be found on Constitutional changes for term and age limits to prevent career politicians.
“Both the Republican and Democratic establishment were responsible for NAFTA
and the trade agreement with China. No one is complaining about American jobs going to Canada. They have the same standard of living as Americans. Instead, we should focus on trade agreements with Europe, Japan, and Australia, etc. They can afford American products,” Zimmerman says. “President Biden has lowered prices for insulin and this year more medicines will be cheaper. He also has invested in the US via the Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Bill, and Chips Act, and manufacturing jobs have come back to the US.”
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