Three Electoral College Members from Mass. Demand Intel Briefing
Photo by Gage Skidmore on Flickr/Creative Commons
Twenty-nine members of the Electoral College are demanding an intelligence briefing regarding Russia’s influence on Donald Trump’s election before they cast their ballots next week.
The call for a briefing, backed by the Hillary Clinton campaign, is largely Democrat-led, with just one Republican supporting the effort—Texas’ Chris Suprun. These 28 electors represent one-tenth of Electoral Democrats.
“Separate from Mr. Trump’s own denials of Russian involvement in the election, the confirmed communication between Trump’s aides and those associated with the Russian election interference activity raise serious concerns that must be addressed before we cast our votes,” the electors’ letter to James Clapper, director of national intelligence, reads.
Three Massachusetts electors have signed on, per Politico: Jason Palitsch, Parwez Wahid, and Paul G. Yorkis.
Palitsch, a member of the Mass. Democratic State Committee and former Shrewsbury school committeeman, ran in the 2015 special election for Eleventh Worcester District seat in the House following Matthew Beaton’s resignation to serve as Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs in Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration. He was narrowly defeated by Republican candidate Hannah Kane.
As an Elector from Massachusetts, I am in full support of this. #ElectoralCollege https://t.co/5TnYs4rfom
— Jason Palitsch (@JasonPalitsch) December 12, 2016
Wahid is an engineer for American Well, a Boston-based telemedicine technology provider. Yorkis is also a member of Mass. Dems, and president of Patriot Real Estate in Medway. Yorkis was named 2011 Massachusetts Realtor of the Year, according to his Twitter bio.
Also representing New England are electors Dudley Dudley, Bev Hollingworth, Terie Norelli, and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire; and Clay Pell of Rhode Island.
