District Round-up 04.12.26
Dear Neighbor, Thank you for reading my District Round-up. As your candidate for Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District, it is my honor and pleasure to deliver to you where I’ve been and what issues I’ve tackled in the past week. Criss-crossing the counties of Adams, Franklin, Fulton, Bedford, Cambria, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, and Somerset gives me great opportunities to meet with voters, hear what is on your hearts and minds, and the chance to voice my fight for Everyday Americans. If you would like to contribute to my campaign, please donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/beth-farnham-for-congress-1
Whipsawed
Many thanks to DFA Gettysburg for publishing this week’s Legislative Corner while we are all still recovering from the horrendous statements of the President of the United States on the heels of the high holiday of those who purport to be Christian.
Dear Reader,
I am sorry to learn of the wrench in your neck as you were whipsawed yesterday from the President of the United States declaiming, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” to, mere hours later, “…I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” – all announced by social media posts, instead of press conferences, an address of the nation, or any other normal way The President might make such pronouncements to the American People.
Well, no American president should ever make his first pronouncement. Because of it, over 70 lawmakers immediately called upon members of Trump’s cabinet and leaders of both houses of Congress to invoke the 25th Amendment which reads in Section 4. “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.”
Unfortunately, no matter what crimes against humanity and constitutional law Trump commits, his cabinet wholeheartedly approves and Republicans in Congress, like our own U.S. Representative, multimillionaire John Joyce, silently condone them.
While I’m not a doctor, I feel safe in diagnosing our country’s illness as, “Republican Necrosis” with obvious symptoms such as: abuses of power, oath betrayals, treason, utter corruption, grift, denial of Due Process, lying, and breathtaking incompetence with secondary complications of extreme stress, higher costs of living, and, of course, neck pain.
In such a severe case, I can only prescribe – “VoteDemocratsOnly” which is the brand name, or by its generic name – “ProgressivesSaveOurCountry.” By inhibiting Republican power through the uptake of Impeachment and Removal from Office, many of those above complications would subside over time.
Side effects include, but are not limited to: public trials of criminals such as an elected president, members of his cabinet, corrupt Supreme Court justices, and Members of Congress, re-establishing trust with jilted Allies, rebuilding social safety nets of Medicaid, Medicare, ACA, and SNAP for those in need, affirming a truly representative American Democracy with a Congress that does not abandon its power, other very involved processes to counter the harm of Republican Necrosis.
But this 250 year old patient is worth saving.
Take two doses – the first on May 19th and second on November 3rd – and reach out to me anytime before either. If successful, you should start to feel some relief by the morning of November 4th.
To learn more about my campaign, including how I would vote on recent legislation in comparison to John Joyce, please visit my website: www.bethfarnhamforcongress.com where you can also sign up for my newsletter, District Round-up.
Together, we Choose Democracy and the health of our country!
Sincerely,
Beth
Punishing Everyday Americans at the Gas Pump
Everyday Americans are being punished at the gas pump for Trump’s war on Iran.
Monday’s gas price at the same Cross Keys Sheetz in Adams County is up another $.20.
That’s a $.40 increase within a two week time period.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
You can stop the pain by voting for sane people like me, Beth Farnham, to represent us in Congress and check the power of an abusive president.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy and Affordability!
Fighting the Transource Power Line
In the fight against the Transource Power Line Project, testimony at PUBLIC INPUT HEARINGS is paramount.
Last night, I attended an informative presentation hosted by the Coalition to Protect Franklin County (CTPFC) whose mission includes, “…To procure the rich, agricultural heritage of Franklin County so as to be free from unnecessary and harmful impacts to our landowners, to our environment, and to our waterways.”
Lori Rice and Karen delivered important information of fighting the Rice Ringold Transource power line project that is proposed to run 29 miles right through the heart of Franklin County, sprouting 5-7 towers, each 13 stories high, per mile, cutting a 130 ft wide path. Besides the infringement of this blight on cherished farmland, pristine woods, and natural habitats, the power line will require pesticide spraying, maintenance, and untold effects of the electromagnetic fields (EMF)s on the health of those who live nearby.
And no one has justified this intrusion, except maybe, the proposed awful AI Data Centers that Elon Musk and his supporters are trying to force everywhere.
My takeaway?
We can fight this.
Ten years ago, CTPFC successfully fought off such and endeavor, and recently, the eastern part of this proposed project was effectiviely shot down.
Darryl Lawrence who currently serves as the Consumer Advocate of Pennsylvania’s Office of Consumer Advocacy (OCA) presented a slide show which I’ll link in the comments and relayed the importance of PUBLIC INPUT HEARINGS. His office will request them after Transource’s parent company, PJM, files an application with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to build the powerline.
What can the people do?
Show up, swear in, deliver written statements, and make verbal statements at the PUBLIC INPUT HEARINGS. At PUBLIC INPUT HEARINGS, the testimony of live people, or that of their physically-delivered statements not only goes onto the record of the case, but can be used by the OCA for their arguments on behalf of the utility rate-paying customers.
And ohmygoodness are customers paying those rates.
You see, those big power companies have a lot of perks on their side and two of them cost the ratepayers in ways the general public usually doesn’t know about.
The first is most concerning – even if the power company abandons the project, it may be reimbursed a significant amount of money for having agreed to the project in the first place. In other words, rate-paying customers have to pay the power company for money they would have earned. Not all of it, but not nothing.
The second is that power companies are incentivized to build because rate-payers begin paying when they’ve only begun the project. In other words, the project does not have to be completed before customers are seeing bigger bills.
So it’s crucial that the power company never gets any agreement in the first place.
Meanwhile, and this is getting down in the weeds, because the power company was successfully rebuffed by the Third Circuit Court recently, PJM decided that since a component of their business is regulated by the federal government, then the state of Pennsylvania had no right of “supremacy” to supercede any agreement they have with the federal government and refuse them their build.
Therefore, a 3 out of 9 judge decision in Harrisburg’s Middle District Court was taken to allow the case to proceed past the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and go straight to a federal court to be argued. However, that Middle District Court made that decision without the full bench, so State Attorney General, Dave Sunday, who appointed Daryl Lawrence, on behalf of OCA is requesting that it be decided by the full bench. If PJM would simply acknowledge that states have authority over siting of transmission lines, granted to them through the Federal Powers Act, then taxpayers wouldn’t have to waste their hard-earned money fighting this nonsense on top of rising utility bills.
There are other considerations, such as PJM not acknowledging the nearly $200 million they spent in litigation, etc, when calculating their benefit/cost ratio to land above the 1.25 threshold and some weird leaps in their annual declared benefit/cost ratios, but you can discuss that with Karen.
Lastly, it’s important to make the point –
IF the power lines are justified by the need of the community, then PJM doesn’t have to force a new path across the precious landscape – they have ample ability to bury lines where the infrastructure already exists, or they can run them under or next to local highways. Sure, it costs them more money, but saving the land, and therefore the people, the flora, and the fauna, are worth it.
“Graphic Design is My Passion”
A number of weeks ago, I was encouraged to make more social media posts with graphic design, so here are a few. Enjoy!
Meeting Voters in Mifflin and Juniata Counties
Many thanks to Mifflin County Democrats and Juniata County Democratic Committee candidate meetings today! I truly enjoyed being able to take the time to answer voter questions alongside Sean Steeg, John Zangari, Wendy Morgan, and Connor Lamb.
Sidenotes – the Mifflin brunch was fantastic and Connor Lamb very graciously shared the microphone after his speech to let the candidates keep answering questions from voters. We look forward to him running his next race!
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy !
Charity of the Week!
Please donate, if you can, to Central Pennsylvania Food Bank!
“The Central Pennsylvania Food Bank is a nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger in 27 central Pennsylvania counties. An affiliate of Feeding America and Feeding Pennsylvania, we partner with nearly 1,100 local agencies to provide nutritious food, build community collaboration, and advance innovative solutions.
Since opening our doors in 1982 in a converted movie theater in Steelton, we have grown into a multi-hub food distribution organization grounded in strategic infrastructure and community impact. In 1994, following a successful $1.5 million capital campaign, we moved into our purpose-built warehouse in Harrisburg. That facility expanded in 2012 to 75,000 square feet, enhancing our capacity to deliver fresh, healthy food.
In 2002, we added a second Healthy Food Hub in Williamsport to better serve the northern tier of our territory, and that facility underwent a major expansion in 2016 to support deeper rural reach and partner growth.
In 2025, we opened the Hollidaysburg Healthy Food Hub in the Allegheny Mountain region, to serve Blair, Bedford, Centre, Clearfield, Fulton, Huntingdon, and Mifflin counties. This new hub boosts healthy food distribution, expands cold-storage capacity, and strengthens our ability to source local food for communities that have faced persistent gaps in access.“
Please visit their website:
Comparing and Contrasting Votes on Legislation
Check out how Joyce recently voted, how I would have voted in comparison, and why!
If you’re like me, you love this country as much as I do and work to make a positive difference. In the midst of this Constitutional Crisis, please consider reaching out to your local Democratic committees or Democratic candidates so that we can strengthen our Democracy instead of letting it slide into fascism. We don’t just #ChooseDemocracy, we choose Pennsylvania, we choose The United States of America, we choose Humanity and I am deeply glad to work along side you. Sincerely, Beth
