Lawmakers’ community events cost nearly $200,000

Oct. 05--HARRISBURG -- State lawmakers spent nearly $200,000 of taxpayer money hosting paper-shredding parties, an Easter Bunny breakfast and other community seminars, expos and events in the last fiscal year, a Sunday Times analysis found.

While lawmakers defend the events as important in reaching constituents, and often advertise them as being free, at least one Capitol activist says it's really a guise for getting re-elected on taxpayers' dollars.

"These fairs, expos and seminars are subsidized taxpayer events designed to promote politicians and target key voting blocks," said Eric Epstein, coordinator of RockTheCapital.com. "It is no secret that these fairs, expos and seminars can occur any time of the year, and are often on display during election cycles."

The most common community events are expos and fairs for senior citizens. Many of the 20 lawmakers representing Northeast Pennsylvania who submitted expenses hosted events for senior citizens that feature health checkups and have officials from government and nonprofit agencies on hand to provide information.

Related:

--NEPA Lawmaker Constituent Events

--PA Senate Constituent Events Database

--PA House Constituent Events Database

Constituents also lined up to have their personal documents destroyed at shredding events hosted by House lawmakers in Dickson City, Jessup, Mountaintop and Nanticoke.

Events to help veterans apply for jobs and get services attracted large turnouts, too.

House lawmakers can draw from a $20,000 annual office allowance to pay for community events with a legislative purpose, said Stephen Miskin, spokesman for House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-28, Pittsburgh. They also pay bills for utilities, janitorial services and other upkeep for their district offices from this account.

Senators pay for these events out of their $25,000 annual office account.

The Legislature places no election season restrictions on holding these community events.

The newspaper's Right to Know Law requests filed with the House and Senate chief clerk's office revealed that 113 House lawmakers report spending a total of $106,000 and 35 senators report spending nearly $91,000 for these events, out of a roughly $300 million budget for the Legislature.

No breakdown is provided for this community event spending in annual audit reports released by the Legislative Audit Advisory Commission.

The newspaper also found:

--The merging of two Lackawanna County House districts because of reapportionment spurred a number of community events. Freshmen Reps. Frank Farina, D-115, Jessup, and Kevin Haggerty, D-112, Dunmore, ran against each other in the combined 112th District. They sponsored community events right up until weeks before last May's primary, which Mr. Farina won.

Mr. Farina hosted five events, the most for any Northeast lawmaker, during this period. These included: a shredding event in Jessup in July 2013 costing $318; Veteran's Job Fair last May costing $1,000; and breakfast with the Easter Bunny last April at the Olyphant Ambulance and Rescue Building. Food costs for the Easter event were $150.

Mr. Haggerty hosted three events, including a senior fair costing $1,500 and a cookout for veterans in Dunmore costing $321.

Mr. Farina is an unabashed enthusiast of these events.

"It brings the community together," he said. "A lot of these events where people come out, there are constituents I never had contact with before."

Mr. Farina said he has received assistance from Helping Heroes, a national nonprofit, and donations of Easter baskets respectively to help respectively with the veteran's event and Easter breakfast.

--At shredding events, constituents typically bring paper documents such as old bank statements and insurance information to a location for shredding by a specially equipped truck.

"These are phenomenal events," said Rep. Gerald Mullery, D-119, Newport Twp.

Mr. Mullery, Mr. Farina and Rep. Marty Flynn, D-113, Scranton, have used All-Shred, a <location value="LS/us.md" idsrc="xmltag.org">Maryland-based firm that participates in community shredding events. The cost of the truck rental varies with the length of time it's on site, lawmakers said.

All told, 23 House members spent nearly $13,000 to run shredding events.

Shredding events took off with public awareness about the pitfalls of disposing personal documents in the trash, said Bill Patton, spokesman for House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-33, Allegheny County.

"It's a response to people's concerns about identity theft," added Mr. Patton. "Most people don't have shredders of their own."

Rep. Mike Vereb, R-150, Collegeville, hosted the first shredding event several years ago. He got the idea from a discussion with constituents about personal privacy issues, said Mr. Miskin. Mr. Vereb was surprised by the turnout and other lawmakers copied the idea in their districts.

--Rep. Kurt Masser, R-107, Ralpho Twp., reported the highest event expenses at $3,443 among Northeast lawmakers. He had a large turnout of 400 seniors at a senior expo one year ago in Elysburg. The food tab for that event was $1,273.

--Northeast senators favored senior expos and fairs for constituent outreach. Sens. John Yudichak, D-14, Plymouth Twp., Gene Yaw, R-23, Williamsport, and David Argall, R-29, Tamaqua, reported the bulk of their expenses in this area. Mr. Yudichak and Sen. Lisa Baker, R-20, Lehman Twp., evenly split the roughly $6,000 cost to rent a booth, tables and equipment at a senior expo last fall in Kingston.

--Rep. Edward Gainey, D-24, Pittsburgh, miscalculated how many people would attend his senior fair last year. The caterer's invoice was $1,200 based on 150 to 200 showing up. The food ran out with 350 attending and an order for additional food pushed costs up $70.

--The single biggest expense was reported by Sen. Shirley Kitchen, D-3, Philadelphia. That was a $22,360 tab for 800 box lunches provided during a senior expo in Philadelphia.

The enactment of the state Castle Doctrine law several years ago outlining when a homeowner can use deadly force to defend a home has led to a wave of concealed carry seminars hosted by lawmakers. Reps. Tarah Toohil, R-116, Butler Twp., Karen Boback, R-117, Harveys Lake, and Sandra Major, R-111, Bridgewater Twp, have held these seminars in recent months.

Rep. Vanessa Lowery-Brown, D-190, Philadelphia hosted an Indigenous Peoples Event. She has sponsored a resolution to recognize the first Saturday in October as "Indigenous Peoples Day." Rep. Justin Simmons, R-131, Coopersburg, hosted a Pretzel Day event.

The expense reports may not reflect total spending on community events. An undetermined number of lawmakers accept in-kind contributions from a local business or institutions to help defray costs of an event, said Mr. Miskin. Some lawmakers report these contributions on their annual state financial disclosure statements. For example, Sen. Pat Browne, R-16, Allentown, has reported a gift valued at nearly $1,000 from Lehigh Valley Hospital Network to provide and set up furniture for a community health fair.

The senior expos and shredding events mark an evolution of the traditional concept of constituent services. This sees the lawmaker as someone who processes motor license paperwork quickly or helps seniors fill out applications for property tax and rent rebates.

This style of constituent service was described in a 1969 report by a special commission that made recommendations to modernize the General Assembly.

"There are representatives who claim they are often compelled to personally pick up one to 10 automobile licenses for constituents, to pick up a form a farmer may need from the Department of Agriculture, to investigate a minor labor matter for an employer in his constituency," according to "Toward Tomorrow's Legislature."

Today's senior expos are fine as long as they provide a real service and all constituents are invited, said Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania. The adult children of senior citizens may find the information at a senior expo useful as well, he said.

Mr. Kauffman suggested that lawmakers should not hold events during the peak campaign season of 60 days or 90 days before an election. Furthermore, lawmakers should be very cautious about accepting in-kind donations for an event because those individuals could expect special treatment on a bill or regulatory issue in return, said Mr. Kauffman.

Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com

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