An article in the Times Leader from the AP highlights the amount of money spent by the Pennsylvania Legislature on the Bonusgate probe. This debacle has cost Pennsylvania taxpayers $5.8 million so far in expenses.
What I find interesting is that the House Democrats needed a Right to Know request before releasing their figures. Rep. Lisa Bennington, D-Allegheny, wants all Pennsylvania laws online and free to the public. She is quoted as saying-"As we continue to examine ways to foster a more open and transparent government, I believe it is important that we ensure the general public has free online access to our state laws," Bennington said. In 2007 Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, proposed that pharmaciessubmit retail prices for 150 of the most popular medications as part of the Governor's efforts for price transparency.
I guess that transparency doesn't extend to how much of our taxpayer money is spent. If you want to read more about Todd Eachus see what Eric Epstein had to say over at the Central Penn Business Journal.
KDKA out of Pittsburgh reported on February 16, 2009 that Rep. Jake Wheatley D-Hill District, is accused by his former campaign manager, of using staff for political work.
"I don't have any comment," Wheately told me last Friday when I confronted him with allegations that he ordered his office staff to perform political work on the public's time.
The allegations were brought to me by Brad Young, Wheatley's former campaign manager.
Young produced an e-mail from Wheatley to his government office staff which by all appearances directed them to do work for Wheatley's re-election campaign last fall.
"I think it's clearly wrong. These people need to hire professional campaign staff to manage their campaigns instead of using their state employees as their campaign staff," Young said.
According to Young, the Wheatley campaign received a list of some 2,300 Democratic contributors in anticipation of inviting them to a fundraiser.
Young says Wheatley e-mailed four government office workers in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh ordering them to find e-mail and phone numbers for each.
In the e-mail, Wheatley says, "I need all hands on deck," and "getting this accomplished is a major priority."
He tells the staff to, "start breaking the list up amongst the four of you," and in a subsequent e-mail, Wheatley's chief of staff assigns each worker about 500 names each to research.
Young has turned the emails over to AG Tom Corbett's office. I guess that bill really is $5.8 million and counting.
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