Party politics move Bucks County Dem Chairman Cordisco to bow out of Ukraine fundraiser

The footage is shocking, the grieving mother’s cries heart wrenching. Amid the rubble of yet another Russian bombing attack on Ukraine, the woman’s worst fears are realized. She has found her son, a member of his country’s Terrorism Defense, dead in a shallow pit near a gas station in the tiny village of Buzova. She cannot see his face in the hole, but drops to her knees and screams in sheer agony when she recognizes his shoes. Her pain is felt from halfway around the world.

Destruction surrounds the mother, as do those attempting to comfort her. She stands a short distance away as workers extricate her son’s body in a most disturbing way: A rope was tied around his ankles and he was dragged to the surface. The mother is horrified at the sight of her son and breaks down yet again. She is restrained from racing toward his lifeless body. She struggles to try to break free and wails, “Let me see! Let me see!” A mother’s worst nightmare. The optics are unsettling.

So, too, are the optics here in Bucks County. County Democratic Party Chairman John Cordisco has pulled out of attending an April 29 “Stand with Ukraine” fundraiser at the Newtown Athletic Club. The reasons are twofold: One, Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, will also appear. Widespread criticism of Cordisco’s appearance at the fundraiser by county Democrats — Northern Bucks Democrats, and Newtown Township Democratic Supervisor Elen Snyder, for two — has convinced (forced?) Cordisco to bow out of the event, fear of reprisals and all that.

Two, NAC owner and Republican supporter Jim Worthington has filed a defamation lawsuit against Democratic Congressional candidate Ashley Ehasz, who is running for Fitzpatrick’s seat, over comments she made regarding his involvement in the Jan. 6 rally at the US Capitol. The suit has only heightened opposition to Cordisco’s appearance by some fellow Democrats.

More on this storyBucks Democratic chair cancels NAC appearance with Republican Fitzpatrick for Ukraine fundraiser

Lawsuit filedNAC owner Jim Worthington sues congressional candidate over Capitol insurrection claims

This ridiculous hissy fit is a microcosm of how incredibly broken we are, from the nation's Capitol to Bucks County and beyond. And spare me the snickers of naivete. America is marching down a troubling road when political consideration supersedes participating in a fundraiser for a sovereign nation being bombed and its citizens and military slaughtered day and night by a neighboring superpower.

The adult thing, the humanist thing for Cordisco to do was not cave into party pressure, to ignore their rattling of sabers, and sit with Fitzpatrick and Worthington and stand for Ukraine. Like grown-ups. Politics be damned.

Instead, Cordisco has relented to the hoots and howls. Said thanks but no thanks. He has pledged to write a check for five grand for the event benefactor, the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee.

And shouldn't the party chairman have foreseen his appearance with Fitz and Worthington at the NAC would tie some Democratic party loyalists’ shorts in a knot? Once committed, he shouldn’t have turned and walked away.

I implore Cordisco and those Democrats up in arms over the party chairman sitting with political enemies, even if for a worthy cause, to watch the video of the grieving mother. Listen, if you can, to her aching cries over seeing her dead son. Watch her transfixed as his dirt-crusted remains are dragged out of a hole, covered with a sheet, tossed into a van, and taken away. Imagine how many other mothers throughout Ukraine are dealt a similar fate. Or worse; some sons will never be found. This is what that fundraiser at the NAC is designed to address: assisting a country with too many mothers’ tears.

And when you’re finished wringing your hands over something as silly as having worried about two men from opposite political parties attending a fundraiser together, tell me what that video does to your heart.

If you can find it.

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Columnist Phil Gianficaro can be reached at 215-345-3078, pgianficaro@theintell.com, and @philgianficaro1 on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Party politics trump heart of matter at coming Ukraine fundraiser