Values Count, Not Parties, Says Pike County Group

EdEE

Ed Gragert

A Pike County organization has cobbled a little bridge across the wide political divide that opened with the 2016 presidential election. Delaware Valley Action! began with 70 people who bused to Washington for the women’s march in January of 2017. They have grown into a group with 1000 members that ventures forth in assorted directions, from getting out the 2020 vote to donating to the Port Jervis warming station and arranging a series of Zoomed in cooking lessons by cooks around the world for the Pike County Public Library.

“Although we initially called ourselves the Delaware Valley Democratic Club, some members were not Democrats,” said Ed Gragert, of Milford. a DVA founder.

Members joined on the basis of shared values rather than political affiliations, he said. DVA also supported election candidates according to their values. Which values? They appear in blue capital letters on the DVA website. To be endorsed, candidates must answer a 60-question survey that identifies whether they align with those standards:

·                             JUSTICE, RESPECT & EQUALITY

·                             LIVING WAGE FOR ALL

·                             HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

·                             QUALITY PUBLIC EDUCATION

·                             100% RENEWABLE

·                             SAFE INFRASTRUCTURE

·                             DEVELOP COMMUNITY-BUILDING TO BRING PEOPLE

TOGETHER

·                             LIVE AND LET LIVE

Donald Trump would not be accepted by DVA, but a few Republicans have joined, and Republican candidates have been endorsed by the group, Gragert said. Recently, a Republican received DVA endorsement for a Delaware Valley School Board seat along with two Democrats.

Meanwhile, Gragert, whose professional work life has been devoted to international education efforts, recommended adjustments to the Delaware Valley curriculum that would foster tolerance of LGBT and other minorities. He had been on a school board subcommittee formed after a school board member, Dawn Bukaj, criticized Pennsylvania health secretary Rachel Levine for being transgender.

“Take the fear out of the unknown by having kids work together,” Gragert suggested to the school board.

Education is a primary focus of DVA. With its 501c-4 tax exempt status, at least 50% of its funds must be spent on social welfare, and no more than 49.9% can be spent supporting campaigns and candidacies. Contributions are not tax-deductible, but they were plentiful anyway approaching the 2020 election, as DVA focused on motivating people to vote, Gragert said.

“We spent $30,000 on mailings to encourage particular demographic groups to vote--people over 60 because of Medicare issues and those age 18-25 because of student loan issues. We had phone banks and post card mailings, but we had so many volunteers, there weren’t enough jobs,” he said. “Pike County had the largest increase in Democratic voter turnout of all Pennsylvania counties. Biden carried Pennsylvania because of the rural vote.”

Gragert attributes some of that Democratic shift to DVA activities and says they plan to make similar efforts for the school board vote this year. He noted that the majority of new voters in the county are Trump supporters, and the only “irregularities” found in the vote count were Trump supporters voting on behalf of dead parents.

DVA encourages members to run for local offices, as many candidates have no opponents, and some offices have no candidates, which leaves Pike County commissioners to make appointments.

Prompted by DVA, Judy Leary Wagner ran for county auditor and won.

Coming out of the July DVA meeting, she said, “I was never involved in politics. Now I’m involved with the community and want to help others participate. I try to help my kids be involved, informed and aware of the world around them.”  

DVA meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 403 Broad St. On Aug. 6, at 6 p.m., Dr. Kevin Baumlin, a Philadelphia emergency medicine specialist, will discuss the need for urgent care facilities in Pike County, which now has none. He established urgent care services around Philadelphia, but now that he is running in the Democratic primary for senator, Gragert says that he expects a wide-ranging discussion. Lt. Governor John Fetterman, another Democratic primary Senate candidate, has spoken at several DVA meetings and will return in the fall, Gragert said.

Delaware Valley Action! Meeting on Aug. 11, 6-7:30 p.m., 403 Broad St. Milford. www.DelawareValleyAction.org.