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DeWeese’s leadership account spending detailed

7 min read

By Alison Hawkes For the Herald-Standard

HARRISBURG – As House Democratic leader, state Rep. H. William DeWeese has access to a “special leadership account” budgeted at $13 million each year that gives him spending rights far above the average rank-and-file lawmaker.

DeWeese uses the taxpayer-funded account in a variety of ways: to pay for his personal driver around his Greene County district, a plane flight to Santa Barbara, Calif., when needed, meals for the entire House Democratic caucus while in session and several hundred thousand dollars in consulting fees, among others.

That’s according to a (Calkins Media) review of billing invoices and receipts provided by the House Clerk’s office for expenditures to the account in November and December last year.

The information became available late last month from a records request dating back to January.

DeWeese (D-Waynesburg), who represents parts of Greene, Fayette and Washington counties, spent almost a half million dollars from the account in two months. Among his biggest totals were advertising at $149,105 and consulting fees at $254,722.

Democracy Rising PA coordinator Tim Potts said the public knows little about how leaders with access to large accounts, such as DeWeese, spend taxpayer money. That’s because getting access to the account spending requires a series of public records requests and a physical presence at the House clerk’s office to review receipts. No photocopying or removal of documents is allowed.

“There’s a lot of money being used for questionable purposes and things they don’t want you to know about,” said Potts, a former press secretary for DeWeese. “What’s in the leadership account is the tip of the iceberg.”

DeWeese’s spokesman Tom Andrews said the minority leader was unavailable for comment. But he defended the spending, saying that while the account can be picked apart and scrutinized, every dime spent meets state spending guidelines.

“I certainly think they’re all part of modern business and modern communications,” said Andrews. “Bill being the leader is constantly working and (the expenses) are all part of helping him to do his job and expeditiously.”

DeWeese is hardly alone. The other three legislative leaders in the House and Senate spend from similarly sized leadership accounts, and there are numerous smaller accounts controlled by leaders that are packed with millions of dollars.

One of the unusual aspects of the leadership accounts, as well as other legislative accounts, is that funds not spent are carried over from one fiscal year to the next, which allows a funding buffer to accumulate. In April, DeWeese was still drawing off $7.7 million remaining from the 2004-2005 fiscal year, and hadn’t yet touched this year’s $13 million appropriation to the special leadership account, according to budget records. State agencies, on the other hand, must remit remaining funds back to the state Treasury at the end of the fiscal year.

Also, the leadership accounts do not have to meet specific spending limits in certain categories, as do the caps placed on rank and file lawmakers’ accounts. Lower-ranked lawmakers spend from a yearly cap of $29,400 for office expenditures (not including staff salaries, car leases, or per diems while in Harrisburg), although, they too go to leadership from time to time to get expenses covered under the leadership accounts.

Instead, DeWeese and other legislative leaders have wide latitude to spend as they see fit.

Meals above $100

DeWeese is using the special leadership account for both his own purposes and to cover expenses for the entire Democratic caucus of 95 House members, according to records.

The lawmakers regularly get meals while the Legislature is in session, despite the fact that they also receive $141 per diems every day at the Capitol, which are supposed to cover meals and hotels.

Our Daily Bread seems to be the favored Harrisburg catering company for House Democrats, which regularly dishes up sandwiches and fruit platters for 110 people for $1,876. The expense is explained as a “legislative meeting expense.”

Most meal receipts give few or little details. But one $3,420 meal receipt for 150 people at a downtown Harrisburg pub restaurant called The Firehouse included such items as filet, salmon, salad, “hawg wings,” vegetable medley, and roasted potatoes.

In sum, meals ate up $45,178 in two months of receipts from DeWeese’s leadership account.

DeWeese himself dipped into the account numerous times to pay for dinners. Appearing on chief of staff Mike Manzo’s credit card statements were meals at a Harrisburg Outback Steakhouse in September and October for $234, $150, and $174, among others that regularly tipped above $100.

Also, DeWeese and his staff ate at Rohanna’s Golf Course in Waynesburg four times at the end of last year for meals costing as much as $121.

Andrews explained the meals are part of meetings with staff and constituents.

“I think in some of the cases, if he’s meeting with a constituent he thinks it’s more cordial to meet with them and discuss the issue over dinner and some people may not be available during the day,” Andrews said, adding he knew of no $85 bottles of wine purchased.

The records do not always indicate how many people were at the meal meetings, or the intended purpose.

Critics say the vagueness in the receipts means the public cannot evaluate whether the spending was appropriate.

“Accountability as far as record keeping is concerned should require very specific identification of how the money was spent,” said Pennsylvania Common Cause Director Barry Kauffman. “Outback Steakhouse, eight people, for what purpose. A $1,200 Mastercard is wholly inappropriate.”

The biggest drops

Consulting services were by far the biggest drops in DeWeese’s spending bucket.

He hired a New York City-based company called Global Strategy Group to do “regional legislative surveys” for $47,833 and for focus group studies in a trip to Beaver Falls for another $18,381.

Ceisler Jubelirer, a Philadelphia media relations firm, was paid $7,000 for communications consulting, and another $135,288 for two sets of radio public service announcements. And Delta Development Group – a Harrisburg area consulting firm that employs House Democratic Whip Mike Veon’s brother Mark as a senior associate – took in $74,832 in three checks for “community planning and economic development services” for projects in Fayette and Greene counties and in other areas.

DeWeese’s staff said Delta facilitates the work between lawmakers seeking grants for their districts, and the state’s economic development agency, the Department of Community and Economic Development.

DCED grants to legislative districts have been widely criticized as “walking around money” or “wams” because they are approved on the basis of political pull and not an objective merit system.

Individual lawmakers got help in other ways, too. DeWeese picked up a $238 tab for Lawrence County Rep. Frank LaGrotta to purchase fliers. He forked over $833 to pay for Schuylkill County Rep. Neal Goodman’s unspecified contract with Edward Lucyk, a former lawmaker who held that same Schuylkill County seat until 2002.

And DeWeese covered Luzerne County Rep. Kevin Blaum’s $716 plane ticket home from Iowa when the Legislature was called back into session Nov. 7 to cast another vote on the pay raise repeal.

Andrews said Democratic lawmakers gave DeWeese the authority to make spending decisions on caucus accounts when they elected him leader.

But Kauffman said the handouts to members are way for leadership to reward and punish.

He said there are legitimate reasons why the leadership accounts should exist, such as working seminars and conferences that increase a lawmakers’ knowledge of issues. But, the spending needs greater public scrutiny and more rigorous auditing, he said.

“It boils down to accountability,” he said. “Do we need that much money? And there ought to be fairly strict criteria on how it’s used. Right now it’s at the whim of legislative leaders.”

Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or begin ahawkes@calkins-media.com ahawkes@calkins-media.com end

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