Memorandum to Impeach Wolf

[Deplorable MEh]

Rep. Metcalfe's full memorandum:

Gov. Wolf’s orders in response to the COVID-19 outbreak have violated a number of our God-given rights affirmed in the United States Constitution. In particular, his order mandating the closure of physical locations of all businesses that he has deemed ‘non-life sustaining’ has violated our citizens’ rights in many devastating ways.
His order constitutes a taking of property from business owners without just compensation. The lack of due process and judicial review permitted under his order also violates the Constitution. In addition, this order coupled with the stay-at-home order, has violated our rights to free speech and assembly.

Another troubling aspect of his mandates is the utter lack of transparency demonstrated by the administration during this time, as agencies under his control have stopped responding to requests for records and his office has refused to provide vital information. The waiver process established under the Department of Community and Economic Development resulted in arbitrary and capricious decisions about which businesses may stay open. The public, press and General Assembly all have the right to know about these decisions and how they have been made. While the Wolf administration has finally slowly begun to release some of the relevant information regarding which businesses received waivers, they have yet to release any information about how or why these decisions were made. His delays and obfuscation have been, and continue to be, entirely unacceptable.
His failure to adequately administer our unemployment compensation system has made it so that countless Pennsylvanians who have recently become unemployed due to his orders have been unable to collect the benefits they require to meet their basic needs.
“His focus on restraining business is particularly disturbing, as the majority of deaths due to the pandemic have been residents of long-term care facilities. The governor should have focused his attention there, but he has entirely failed to implement a comprehensive state plan to protect our most vulnerable citizens who reside in nursing homes, which have had inadequate supplies of Personal Protective Equipment and testing kits throughout the outbreak.

As Gov. Wolf has violated so many of our fundamental rights as citizens of the Commonwealth, I will be introducing a resolution impeaching the governor and exhibiting Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. His actions plainly constitute the misbehavior in office required for his impeachment under the Pennsylvania Constitution.

While these are certainly challenging times, Gov. Wolf must be held accountable for his actions that have harmed so many of our citizens and violated so many of our rights. No individual or office is above the law.