Critics were more than riled by Bucks Commissioner Diane Marseglia’s words: “People violate laws anytime they want. So, for me, if I violate this law, it’s because I want a court to pay attention.”
Those words, spoken on November 13, 2024, referred to Marseglia and her co-commissioner, Bob Harvie, motioning to accept ballots in defiance of recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings.
Hundreds of critics showed up to let Marseglia and Harvie know that they should not only be ashamed and embarrassed but also on the hook for the money their persistence in breaking the law cost us, the taxpayers.
Not only was the commissioner’s room filled for the November 20th meeting, the overflow room overflowed.
Local mom and advocate Jamie Walker organized a press conference outside the courthouse before the commissioners’ meeting. Walker revealed that violating the law without repercussion and using taxpayer dollars to do so have been a pattern by Marseglia and Harvie going back several years. In addition, the two commissioners have used their power to silence critics and make false and inflammatory accusations.
Walker told a crowd how in 2021, the Covid guidance for schools, favoring a return to school with significantly less masking and testing, given by a double board-certified physician was abruptly reversed. Walker related that when she started asking questions about Covid guidance in schools, Marseglia had the head of security tell her not to come back to meetings.
The crowd heard from Walker how Marseglia blocked another Bucks County mother, Megan Brock from calling any county government office because Marseglia disagreed with Brock’s opinion. Brock had been accused in the press of “extensive verbal abuse” in phone calls to the commissioner’s office. The press had not contacted Brock for her side of the story, and neither the commissioners nor the press retracted or apologized after Brock obtained the phone records proving she called the office once. She played the lone calm voicemail she left at a public meeting to clear her name.
Walker teamed with Brock to request emails under the Freedom of Information Act. Instead of turning over the documents won in a legally binding decision, Marseglia used taxpayer dollars to sue the two moms, Walker and Brock. In one email later obtained, Marseglia stated: “I have people to protect.” Neither Brock nor Walker have received all of the emails requested and due to them by law. Many are now wondering who Marseglia was willing to bend the law to protect.
At Walker’s press conference, Mara Witsen, an activist and concerned voter, pointed out a “pattern of projection” by Marseglia. Witsen, in a recent op-ed and at the press conference, outlined the problems in Bucks County leading up to election day. The Trump and McCormick campaigns successfully sued Bucks County for shutting down on-demand voting early and thus suppressing voters. Commissioner Harvie is the chair of the Bucks Board of Elections. During on-demand voting, there were reports of individuals with seemingly official election lanyards who were not county employees. When this was discussed in an October commissioners meeting, Marseglia immediately pointed the finger at Republicans stating that these people were not from the Democratic Party and alleging they were Republicans. It turned out the badges seemed to have “paid for by Pennsylvania Democratic Party” directly printed on them. Marseglia was wrong again and faced no repercussions.
A cheer arose during Walker’s press conference when Scott Presler, famous for voter registrations, walked toward the courthouse.
Presler’s remarks during the public comment portion of the commissioner’s meeting galvanized the audience.
Joan Cullen, a mother of five, asked Marseglia to apologize for using official county social media sites to call Cullen’s previous statements “hateful and ignorant.” Cullen pointed out that this smearing of her good name has existed publicly for four years.
Cullen went on to question how commissioners Harvie and Marseglia could be so confused about deciding to break the law. Counting ballots that had been deemed deficient, after being told that counting the deficient ballots would violate the PA Supreme Court ruling, was illegal.
Cullen also revealed that Marseglia called her on Thursday, November 14, 2024 to respond to a message that Cullen had left at the commissioner’s office. Cullen said that Marseglia called her opinion “priceless” because Cullen “supported a convicted rapist.” It was at this point that the microphone was cut off and Cullen was silenced. Marseglia called for the next speaker, then a recess.
Cullen came back after recess to finish her comments, stating that Harvie’s vote to break the law was worse: “It’s one thing for a person to put forth an illegal plan. It’s another thing entirely for someone else to hear that illegal plan and say ‘Yeah I think I want to do that too.’”
Bucks County has a rich history in our Nation’s founding. Locals are proud of that history.
General George Washington secured the Continental Army’s first major military victory of the war after he and his troops crossed the Delaware—launching from a point in lower Bucks County. A reenactment happens here every Christmas. The Liberty Bell was kept safe here in Bucks County when British troops threatened Philadelphia. When Queen Elizabeth gave the U.S. a replica of the Liberty Bell in 1976, she remarked:
The Fourth of July should be celebrated as much in Britain as in America. Not in rejoicing in the separation of the American colonies from the British crown but in sincere gratitude to the Founding Fathers of the great Republic for having taught Britain a very valuable lesson …On the side of the Bicentennial Bell are the words ‘Let Freedom Ring.’ It is a message in which both our people can join and which I hope will be heard around the world for centuries to come.
Diane Marseglia and Bob Harvie should not only learn a valuable lesson, they should face repercussions for defying the law and the pattern of abuse they have demonstrated. Their actions are not fitting for leaders of a county like ours.
Bucks County came out in numbers and lifted their voices asking for the resignation of Commissioners Marseglia and Harvie. Especially notable were the moms like Walker, Witsen, and Cullen, some of whom had been previously wronged. These moms stood next to hundreds of Bucks County citizens and demanded accountability.
Diane Marseglia and Bob Harvie, by their own actions during this election cycle and in the past, caused a public outcry. An outcry that on November 20th, rocked the cradle of liberty in historic Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Let Freedom Ring.
Marion Mass was raised in Bucks County. She is a local pediatrician and mother of 3 who were also raised in Bucks County.
All images provided by the author.