OPINION: Lying For Court Seats

Billionaires get a bad rap in some circles, but if they’ve made their money honestly and legally, it’s no one’s business if they keep acquiring mansions, private planes and other luxuries.

Trying to buy a branch of government to further enrich themselves and impose their whims on everyone else is something else again. Especially if they obscure their motives with deceitful smear campaigns and use various organizations to front for them.

Jeff Yass, Pennsylvania’s richest man, and the groups he donates to are following this playbook in hopes that they can persuade voters in the Nov. 4 retention election to deny a second 10-year term to state Supreme Court justices Christine Donohue, David Wecht and Kevin Dougherty.

Yass, an anti-regulation libertarian who does everything he can to avoid paying taxes at the rate most of us do, is also obsessed with funneling taxpayer money to private schools that he hopes will eventually displace public education.

Defeating the three justices could eventually pave the way to recreating the court in his and his allies’ regressive/MAGA image.

“Controlling the Supreme Court would give them a lot of leverage to achieve their agenda outside the legislative process,” said J.J. Abbott, executive director of the  progressive Commonwealth Communications firm. “From public education to taxes to undermining unions, they would have a friendly audience to shift the law in their desired direction.”

Yass amassed a fortune that Forbes magazine estimates at $65.7 billion. He spreads bits of that wealth to the wealthy and the far right via hefty donations to their advocacy groups. This year, for example, he gave $16 million to Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC.

I first took notice of him during the 2023 state Supreme Court race. My husband and I were receiving mailer after mailer from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, which I learned is a Harrisburg-based political action committee that Spotlight PA says gets most of its money from Yass. (It’s obviously not affiliated with Commonwealth Communications.)

The PAC hit Democratic candidate Dan McCaffery with vile accusations that  — based on the sources it cited in tiny lettering – proved pretty much unfounded. McCaffery ended up defeating GOP rival Carolyn Carluccio.

My lie’s better than yours?

Apparently, the Commonwealth Leaders seemed to think Carluccio lost because their campaign wasn’t dirty enough. In fact, I wondered if they’re competing against their administrator, the Commonwealth Partners lobbying group, to win a trophy for most outrageous whopper.

Right now, it’s a dead heat.

The Leaders got lots of attention for their mailer showing a bizarre-looking Pennsylvania congressional map that they claimed “the liberal Supreme Court gerrymandered to help Democrats win.”

The map was actually gerrymandered by the GOP Legislature, which used it to fill 13 of Pennsylvania’s 18 seats with Republicans. In 2018, the court ordered it redrawn because it violated our constitution’s free and fair elections clause. The result reflected our state’s purpleness, with equal representation for both parties.

We didn’t receive that mailer, but Spotlight PA’s photo shows another falsehood: “Term limit the liberal Supreme Court.” 

That’s also the theme of a couple of postcards that Commonwealth Partners sent Democrats, including us. Political affiliations aside, a lot of people like the idea of setting a maximum number of years for any elected official to remain in office.

But the Partners lied. Article V of Pennsylvania’s constitution says Supreme Court justices, like most judges, are elected to 10-year terms and can run for additional terms in retention elections until they reach the mandatory retirement age of 75.

The only way to change that would be a constitutional amendment approved first by the Legislature in two consecutive sessions and then by the voters. GOP senators Doug Mastriano and Chris Dush have proposed term limits for appellate judges, but even that amendment would allow them to seek retention once.

The Partners packed a half-truth in the same mailer, whose reverse side said voting no in November would “force a new Supreme Court election.”

Defeating the justices wouldn’t trigger one until the 2027 municipal election. Per the constitution, our Democratic governor could propose replacements in the meantime, but they’d need approval from two-thirds of the GOP Senate.

Donohue, who discussed the court and the election during a visit to Pottsville on Tuesday, said the seats would probably remain vacant for two years. With four remaining justices – two who were elected as Democrats and two as Republicans – deadlocks could result, including in cases involving the 2026 midterm elections. 

Hopefully, voters will treat the Leaders and Partners’ messages as the junk mail they are, especially since each organization made sure its name and return address were barely visible.

By contrast, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party clearly identified itself in a pro-retention mailer that said the nonpartisan state bar association recommended the justices and that Planned Parenthood and the AFL-CIO endorsed them.

The party cited Donohue, Dougherty and Wecht’s  rulings in favor of voting rights, abortion access and equitable education funding (as called for in the constitution), and it listed the justices by name so that voters can research them.

Above all, its mailer contained no lies. 

Lisa Von Ahn is an experienced columnist previously published in the Pottsville Republican Herald newspaper.

Canary note: Opinions expressed in any Op-Ed column appearing on this site are the views of the writer and are not necessarily the opinions of Coal Region Canary.

Want to be a columnist with Coal Region Canary? Contact us at newscanary@gmail.com.

^{Photo: Coal Region Canary}

Subscribe to Coal Region Canary

Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!

Support Coal Region Canary

Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...