We trust our elected officials to protect our health, our families, and our livelihoods — especially in the face of difficult and unforeseen challenges. Unfortunately, Butler County Republicans are choosing to actively shrink from that responsibility by pursuing an unfounded, costly, and blatantly partisan lawsuit against Governor Wolf and Secretary Levine.

Our leaders should be doing all they can to help the county safely reopen and rebuild. Instead, Republicans are proving that, once again, they value partisan loyalties and winning tired, political games far more than helping the people they have sworn to serve. Their frivolous suit, paid for with taxpayer dollars, not only lacks legal grounding, but it will fail to provide swift or sustainable assistance to business owners, healthcare workers, educators, farmers, or any resident affected by this pandemic.

The proponents of this lawsuit contend that our resident’s freedoms have been curtailed. But no one has the right to endanger another person’s life, and that is precisely what opening up the state too soon will do.

In light of this action, I am reminded of the many times when county Republicans have loudly proclaimed their support for our first responders. Should their suit triumph, the men and women they hail as heroes will face drastically increased risk of infection, longer hours on the clock, and overwhelming shortages of PPE. Their families will be left to wonder, even more than they already do, when their loved ones will sicken or die.

If our county’s Republican leadership truly cared about those on the front lines or valued them as anything more than political props, they would not condemn them and their families to this fate.

Ultimately, the challenge of leadership in times of crisis is not to find someone to blame, but to make decisions that will move our communities forward. Those Republicans who choose to advance this lawsuit and rush us to reopen without intentional guidelines will be responsible not just for a decision between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ policies for our county residents, but for their very life and death.”

Sincerely,