yesUtler County Republican Representative Daryl Metcalfe asked Governor Tom Wolf to step down Thursday before the Legislature seeks the impeachment.
This, after Wolf and the Health Department tightened restrictions on bars and restaurants amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“After the shame and struggles it has brought about the state, we ask that you spare us more conflict by resigning of your own free will,” Metcalfe said in a letter to the administration. “His new authoritarian dictates, until yesterday, have only strengthened our resolution.”
Metcalfe, one of the more outspoken Republican Party members against Wolf’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, said the administration’s closings and continued mitigation efforts have strengthened support for impeachment articles he submitted through House Resolution 915 last month.
“Through his executive actions, he has endangered the lives and livelihoods of Pennsylvania residents from all walks of life,” he said. “If you had followed the rule of law, consulted with the co-equal branches of government, respected the Constitution, and recognized the need for the consent of the governed, the difficult Orwellian situation we face today could have been avoided.”
Some 25 lawmakers signed the resolution, although it has languished in the House Judiciary Committee since June 23.
The Plaza del Centro contacted the administration to comment on the letter, but received no response. Lyndsay Kensinger, a spokeswoman for Wolf, dismissed the impeachment articles as a political stunt in a press release last month.
“In recent weeks, Republicans in the House of Representatives have continued their efforts to divide the community and earn cheap political points rather than take the challenge before them seriously,” he said. “This is just the latest example that House Republicans wasted time instead of helping protect Pennsylvania residents during this public health crisis.”
They are not the first articles of impeachment brought against Wolf during his six years in office. Neither has ever voted, despite a persistent and strong conservative majority in the House of Representatives.
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