My name is John Hellman and I am the Pike County Democratic Committee’s representative to the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee and I managed Meg Rosenfeld’s race for the 139th State House District in 2022.
I am writing to urge you to “bullet vote” for Christa Caceres for Pike County Commissioner, which means voting only for her, even though each voter can vote for up to two of the four nominees (two Republicans and two Democrats).
Christa is the only Democrat endorsed by the Pike County Democratic Committee; they declined to endorse the other Democrat, who is an incumbent, because he refused to run as a team with Christa and has advocated for votes for the Republican incumbents.
Please let me take a moment to explain why I’ve taken this extraordinary step. Over the last few years, I have had the honor and pleasure to be part of a growing group of Democrats working to elect Democratic candidates committed to solving problems.
Despite what social media would tell you, there actually is a consensus about what we need in Pike County:
Greater access to healthcare services;
More diverse job opportunities for all residents;
Creation of more local higher education and professional development services; and
The preservation of our beautiful environment.
The consequences to ignoring these issues are clear — I’ve lost track of the number of people, particularly young students, who cannot wait to leave Pike County because there is insufficient attention to any of these issues.
There is also the growing — and unfortunately, thriving — presence of far right extremism that threatens our ability to address the issues that we all have in common, it also threatens the safety of some of our most vulnerable residents.
LGBTQ residents have reported higher rates of harassment both online and in person and candidates for office freely associate themselves with far right extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Moms for Liberty. The Sanctuary Church’s Rod and Iron Ministries — an internationally recognized far right cult, whose leader advocates for the execution of LGBTQ people — are supported financially and socially by many leaders of the Pike County Republican Party.
What is the response by current elected officials to any of these issues?
There is no clear or public strategy on what the County Commissioners are doing to solve these problems. Yes, there are some new healthcare services in the works, but we are still outpaced in what we could offer by neighboring counties in PA, NY and NJ. Don’t Pike County residents deserve more without having to travel long distances for care?
Instead of serving real estate developers, the commissioners’ having their economic development agency prioritizing mega-warehouse development that threatens our quality of life and pristine environment, bringing thousands more trucks to crowd our roads and endangering the water supply for Milford and parts of Milford and Dingman townships, they could be serving working people in Pike County by pursuing lower-impact, higher-paying jobs that serve the residents.
They are, in effect, telling us we must accept environmental degradation in the name of “progress.” We need to reject that thinking, decisively.
Our current county commissioners have said, on record, multiple times, that they had no idea that any issues of hate were happening in Pike County.
Shouldn’t this alarming ignorance of the reality of what’s happening so publicly give us pause, and force us to ask the question — what exactly are the county commissioners focusing on?
We desperately need leaders that will listen to the needs of all residents, from every corner of Pike County. That is why I am urging everyone to turn out on November 7, 2023, to vote for only Christa Caceras for Pike County Ccommissioner.
Christa’s extensive experience serving residents from Pike County, her stalwart leadership on areas from women’s issues, domestic violence, and the needs of communities of color, and her longstanding commitment to working as hard as possible to make the needs of all of us known to elected and community leaders, should lead everyone to the same conclusion: Christa is the leader Pike County needs now.
We cannot, and should not, settle for leaders that express support in private but do nothing in public. We cannot, and should not, settle for leaders that would rather duck and run instead of having the courage to stand up to far right extremism. We cannot, and should not, settle for leaders that would rather protect their own jobs than fight for good jobs for Pike County residents.
Pike County deserves better. We deserve better. So please, vote by mail or in person by Tuesday, November 7, for only Christa Caceres for Pike County commissioner.
John Hellman
Milford