Legislative receipts still not required
For someone renowned for his extensive vocabulary, it’s curious that state Rep. H. William “Bill” DeWeese has decided to give the Herald-Standard Editorial Board the silent treatment. For the first time anyone remembers, DeWeese has declined to meet with the board.
In a letter to us dated April 30, DeWeese outlines his reasons. We asked if we could publish the letter for the public to read. He declined.
Rep. DeWeese has made no secret that he is highly displeased with the Herald-Standard Editorial Board. For those who have followed this saga for the past two years, you know it began in October of 2000 when DeWeese met with the board in a session videotaped for broadcast on HSTV.
A few weeks prior the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a series that revealed millions of dollars in questionable expenses for the House leadership and caucus accounts, for Democrats and Republicans.
DeWeese, as House Minority Leader of the Democrats, has $11 million in a leadership account, an amount matched in the House for the Republican Majority Leader Rep. John Perzel. Separate caucus funds, money earmarked for use by the political parties, pushes the total to more than $40 million annually.
At that October board meeting, our questions were focused on getting expense receipts from those special accounts released for the public to review. We insisted that taxpayers have a right to know how every nickel of their tax money is spent.
We emphasized that the House leaders were being criticized for refusing to release itemized bills from those accounts.
DeWeese said, “I think the criticism is on target, probably accurate. And I think the system should be changed.
“If I’m privileged to be in the majority and able to serve as the Speaker of the House, I think that we will make this a preeminent target of reform and change.”
After more questions from board members, DeWeese added: “I have nothing to hide. Should the rule be changed? Yes, it should be.”
He added, “I’m going to commit to trying to change the system, so you can have a look at every single dime we’ve ever spent. Because I am absolutely pristine. And you should come and view that.”
When pressed with more questions, DeWeese said: “I’ve already acceded to the point that you have the high ground, that your position is correct, and we should change it, but I’m certainly not going to commit that I would show you anything that I don’t have to show you until we’ve altered the law. The law protects those records right now.”
He was asked: “Why don’t you take the moral high ground and show something you don’t need to by law?”
He responded: “I said they’re right. We’re wrong. We’re going to have to do something about this. Theoretically and actually you are correct … My reaction is I want to change things. I just think the timing is such that I probably will wait (to release the records) until after the election.”
When pressed even further, he said: “No, you don’t have my commitment (to release the records). You have my commitment that I will take another look at this and get with my Republican leaders, Democratic leaders, and see if we can change the rules.”
We waited for him to release the expense documents, repeating the request several times. DeWeese finally released a report with details on $10,000 in spending from the $11 million account. It was after this that we began publishing the daily caricature of DeWeese, showing the number of days elapsed since he had said the expense records should be made available to the public.
More than a year later, DeWeese sponsored a resolution, adopted by the House this year, requiring supporting documentation for expenses, but the rule does not mention “receipt.”
A state legislator can buy two cases of champagne and a barrel of caviar with a credit card and no taxpayer has a right, by House rules or state law, to see an itemized receipt. The credit card could list the name of the business, purpose of the purchase, such as food or lodging, and the amount paid. Period.
So, here we are, almost two years later. As a taxpayer you still have no legal right to expect or demand itemized receipts from legislators to see how they are spending your money.
Bill DeWeese has been unable to deliver on his commitment to changing the system so taxpayers “can have a look at every single dime we’ve ever spent.”
Mike Ellis is the editor of the Herald-Standard. His e-mail address is: mellis@heraldstandard.com.