I don’t understand why state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe takes so much criticism for being true to his values, is completely predicable and ethically unassailable.

Metcalfe has been criticized for claiming the Marburger campaign was partly financed by unions. Yet Pennsylvania campaign finance reports show contributions from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union, the Local 12 Sheet Metal Workers, the Local 27 Plumbers Union, and the Local 449 Steamfitters Union. I received many mailings in the days leading up to the primary were from Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO.

Metcalfe has been criticized for not “bringing home the bacon” to the 12th District. I guess that means that he’s supposed to be a fiscally conservative tax-limiting legislator when it comes to the rest of the commonwealth, but a high-roller when it comes to his own district. Does anyone see the incongruity in that?

Finally, Metcalfe has been criticized for being a bully. If standing up for conservative principles in an open, honest, ethical fashion makes you a bully, and if refusing to broker compromise makes you a bully, then I guess I have a different definition of the word. To me, forcing a worker to join and support a union, which then works against the worker’s own beliefs, is a better example of bullying.