Thomas Mehaffie is a Republican Representative in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The House is currently locked out by the Speaker Mark Rozzi who is using a parliamentary technicality regarding the adoption of a rules package to prevent the body from convening. The Republicans in the House are attempting to get around this blockage and force the election of a new Speaker. They are one vote shy of the number of votes they need to do so.
That vote belongs to Mehaffie, who despite his claim to be a member of the Republican Party, is siding with the Democrats and preventing the legislature from conducting business. The obvious goal here is to keep the House shut down pending the results of upcoming special elections, following which the Democrats are expected to have a majority.
Mehaffie, in short, is preventing the GOP, currently in the majority from conducting business and siding with the Democrats against his own party. What political payoff Mehaffie expects for this is unclear. There are rumors, as yet unconfirmed, that he intends to switch parties and run for federal office as a Democrat. If those are true, presumably support from Democratic Governor Shapiro would be important.
Yesterday protesters from the Pennsylvania Patriot Coalition arrived at Mehaffie’s office in downtown Hershey, Pennsylvania to protest his actions and demand that the legislature return to work. They were met by a large contingent of Teamsters in union colors and accompanied by a Teamsters tractor-trailer emblazoned with the union logo.
The Teamsters, as requested by Representative Mehaffie, occupied the entire sidewalk in front of Mehaffie’s office. As members of the Coalition arrived to set up for the protest they were met with a stream of obscenities and threats. One female protester carrying a sign with a Biblical reference to Judas and pieces of silver was asked how many pieces of silver it would cost to “f----” her. Others both male and female were harassed and ordered out of the area. At one point one of the Teamsters advised that he was going to “knock down” one of the members of the Coalition who did not leave.
Teamsters in Hershey February 1. 2023, Copyright AND Magazine
Coalition members did not leave and remained in the area for several hours. At one point, the Teamsters received pizza delivered to them courtesy of Representative Mehaffie who was apparently inside for a portion of this incident but declined to come out and address any of those present.
Consider the full implications of Mehaffie’s actions. Here is a man who claims to be a member of the Republican Party who, when pressured by members of his own party, whistles up union muscle to intimidate men and women exercising their constitutional rights.
Since 1990 the Teamsters have donated 92% of their $24,418,589 in contributions to the Democratic Party.
The Teamsters supported Biden for President and continue to push his absurd claims that the economy has improved since he came to office.
In their own words:
“For more than 18 months, the Teamsters worked hard to get a pro-worker president elected. So the union was delighted when Joe Biden emerged victorious in November and looks forward to his swearing-in as the 46th president this month.”
“The election of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president in November represented the culmination of more than 18 months of work by the Teamsters to help get a pro-worker presidential ticket elected to represent the best interests of hardworking Americans in the White House.”
“This union backed the Biden-Harris ticket because it put forward a bold pro-worker agenda that will enhance the ability of workers to join together and collectively bargain for better pay and working conditions,” says Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa.
Think about that as you try to figure out how to heat your home this winter or fill up your pickup truck. The Teamsters may well have originated as a labor organization dedicated to working men and women. There are certainly many decent hard working men and women who still belong to the union. As an institution however the Teamsters long ago sold out their members and coupled with the most corrupt and incompetent President in American history.
The Teamsters who showed up in Hershey yesterday did not come because they genuinely supported Representative Mehaffie. They came because Mehaffie called his cronies in the union and they ordered a bunch of men to show and do their best to scare off a group of protesters composed largely of middle-aged men and women, veterans and retirees.
They say you can tell a great deal about a man by his friends. That was certainly true yesterday, and nothing that was revealed about Representative Mehaffie was good.
Follow the money - in this case, a taxpayer paid multi-billion dollar bailout of the Teamster pension fund.
Unions today are largely money laundering operations taking dues and sending that funds to Democrats, who in turn send taxpayer money back to union interests.
Their political thuggery and viciousness knows no bounds.