Correspondent
WYSOX — Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko hosted his annual Rally at the Rock on July 11.
This was the second of two events hosted at his home this past weekend.
The event focused on local citizens networking with Republican elected officials, the event was attended by several hundred people who braved the rainy conditions.
Among vendors in attendance were the Bradford County Veteran’s Services mobile van and the Bradford County Dairy Princess who handed out milk and ice cream.
Also in attendance were representatives from the Wayne and Monroe County Republicans Pennsylvania Ag Republicans, an advocacy group that lobbies officials to ensure the priorities of agricultural communities are addressed.
UTV shuttle service was provided from the parking lots and food was provided for all guests. The Leraysville fire department donated its ladder truck to hoist a large American flag at the event. Also at the event was the 4th US light artillery with two replica Civil War cannons that were fired off intermittently throughout the event.
Attendants to the rally were in for an exciting event when 2018 nominee for governor Scott Wagner arrived via helicopter.
Troy’s Krystal Bristol acted as MC of the event, introducing a veritable who’s-who of statewide Republican officials including Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Lawrence Tabas. Tabas, who addressed the crowd and reminded them there will be four judges on the ballot state-wide for seats on Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, Superior Court, and State Supreme Court.
Newly-elected State Treasurer Stacy Garrity was in attendance to agree with Tabas saying new conservative judges would help hold Democratic Governor Tom Wolf accountable, saying Pennsylvania’s commitment to natural gas had dropped its emissions by 41% and claimed Wolf was hostile to the natural gas industry.
One guest was Arizona state legislator Mark Finchum. Finchum has been a leading voice behind Arizona’s push to audit its 2020 election results.
Many in Arizona including Finchum feel that irregularities in the voting process led to Joe Biden “stealing” the election from former President Trump, though numerous lawsuits alleging such have been thrown out by judges across the country and Trump’s own Attorney General had stated the 2020 election was the most secure in American history.
Throughout the event, volunteers were soliciting signatures toward efforts to “recall” or “audit” Pennsylvania’s election results similar to Arizona. Lawsuits brought forward by the Trump campaign regarding Pennsylvania’s election results were dismissed for lacking merit.
After Finchum and a short break: all statewide office seekers in attendance were given a few minutes to introduce themselves and give a short speech. Former Pennsylvania congressman Lou Barletta is running to fill the governor’s seat Wolf will leave vacant when his term ends in 2022.
Barletta highlighted his support of Donald Trump, noting he was one of the first elected Republicans in the country to back Trump in the 2016 Republican Primary.
Barletta drew laughs when he remarked that “we’ve always known there were dead people voting in elections but this past time they didn’t even have to show up at the polling place,” furthering claiming that invalid votes were cast for President Biden.
Shawn Parnell, a former challenger to Democrat Connor Lamb for Congress, spoke on his desire to “take back America,” push for “election integrity” and “stand up to China and stand up to big tech” as he pursued the nomination for the open Senate seat Pat Toomey will be vacating in 2022.
Dr. Nche Zama, a well regarded thoracic surgeon and immigrant from Cameroon talked about his commitment to pro-life legislation and highlighted Wolf’s “mismanagement” of Covid in his stump speech for Governor.
Carla Sands is running for Senate and the former ambassador to Denmark for the Trump Administration. She spoke on her effectiveness increasing trade with the country during her time and spoke on her Medal of Distinguished Public Service, the highest award given to civilians by the Department of Defense.
Pennsylvania State Senator Dan Laughlin gave a short speech on his ability to appeal to Independent and Democratic voters and the fact that several traditionally Democrat-supporting organizations such as trade and teachers unions had backed him in his successful 2020 re-election campaign.
Laughlin claimed to be the only candidate with the broad appeal to “defeat Josh Shapiro.”
Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, has not yet declared he means to seek higher office but several attendants assume he will be the Democratic nominee for Governor in 2022.
Other candidates for the two positions came forward including: former candidate for Lieutenant Governor Jeff Bartos who is running for Senate, Scott Martin, the author of the constitutional amendment that was passed in May by ballot initiative to curtail Wolf’s emergency powers was exploring the possibility of a governor’s run. Kathy Barnette, fresh off a close race with Democratic Congresswoman Madeline Dean, is running “to be the first black Republican woman elected to the Senate.” Charlie Gerow, a former Reagan Administration official, is running for governor while Elk County Deputy Sherriff Martin Rosenfeld is hoping his calls for more government transparency and term limits will vault him to the top of the Senate race.
Doug McLinko thanked all the candidates and vendors for coming and remarked that several hundred people had come to the event and he looked forward to the future.