Can Trump Get Justice in Pennsylvania?
Trump is heading to the courts but he might find the Democrats got their first
Two weeks ago I explained on Twitter how Pennsylvania's Supreme Court lurched to the left after three progressive judges were elected in 2015.
That campaign set a national record for spending in a state court election with the three successful candidates — Kevin Dougherty, David Wecht and Christine Donahue — raising $3.98 million, $2.88 million and $1.95 million respectively.
The closest Republican candidate raised just $984,000.
I wondered where all of that money came from. Then I found this statement in a blog post from April 2016 on the website of Democracy Alliance, the powerful collective of left-wing donors and activists founded by George Soros.
“In 2015, (we) made a critical investment that helped establish a progressive majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”
It was quite a claim. And it turned out to be true.
The biggest fundraiser during the 2015 race was Pennsylvanians for Judicial Reform, which funneled funds from another group called the PA Alliance which was funded in turn by Democracy Alliance.
I left the story there and moved on to other things.
But this week I came across a name which made me circle back. Because there’s more to that story of money and judges. And it’s not pretty.
In May this year a group called the Pennsylvania Alliance for Retired Americans filed a lawsuit that would force the state to expand the use of mail-in ballots and allow vote counting well beyond election day.
(Lawsuits like this were being filed across America earlier this year and they played a big part in the election day chaos that’s still with us today.)
One of the lawyers for the Pennsylvania Alliance of Retired Americans in that lawsuit was Adam Bonin.
I had seen that name before. Bonin is also the lawyer for the Democrat party as it fights lawsuits filed by President Trump.
He also used to chair the board at Netroots Nation, a prominent group of leftwing activitsts, and he’s a contributing writer at DailyKos.
Okay, no surprise there. Leftwing groups and political parties like to hire leftwing lawyers.
But it turns out that Bonin does a lot more than argue cases for the Democrat party and write for DailyKos.
Remember that election in 2015 for Pennsylvania’s supreme court?
When the Soros-funded Democracy Alliance funneled all that money into the campaigns of the three progressive judges, they used a local group called PA Alliance.
Guess whose name appears on the paperwork that founded PA Alliance.
Yep, Adam Bonin. His office was also the group’s first address.
So Bonin isn’t just representing the Democrat party and its affiliated groups in lawsuits to weaken Pennsylvania’s election laws, he also seems to be behind the election of some of the state’s most powerful judges.
And it goes beyond PA Alliance.
All three progressive judges elected to the supreme court in 2015 also received money from a group called Fairness PA.
Who was the treasurer of Fairness PA at the time?
Bonin again.
There’s more.
Bonin is tied to one supreme court justice more than the others. During the 2015 supreme court election, he was actually the attorney for then-candidate Judge Kevin Dougherty.
And when the brother of Judge Kevin Dougherty was tied to a local corruption scandal, it was Bonin who headed up the defense fund.
At the beginning of this story I asked if justice is blind in Pennsylvania.
What do you think now?
Three justices on Pennsylvania’s supreme court were elected on the back of record campaign spending. That money came to them from a Soros-backed group via a local lawyer named Adam Bonin.
This same lawyer is representing the Democrat Party and its affiliated groups as they successfully challenge — and weaken — Pennsylvania’s election laws.
Now, I’m sure Bonin is an incredible lawyer. And I’m sure that he’s carefully dotted the Is and crossed the Ts to avoid being legally compromised when these lawsuits are argued in court.
So is it all legal?
Probably.
Is it a fair and just?
I’ll leave that to you.
