HARRISBURG (April 6) – Having successfully resolved obstacles to the release of information sought in two pending Right To Know requests, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department announced today that it will shortly be releasing information about employee payments by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and costs for a 2006 judicial conference paid by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
“Treasury has worked closely with the House of Representatives and the AOPC to resolve any objections they may have had to the release of this information,” Acting Treasurer Tony Wagner said. “We are pleased to be able to release the requested records to the news media to assist citizens to better understand the operations of their government.”
In responding to a request by Patriot-News reporter Jan Murphy, Treasury expressed the view in a March 9, 2007, letter that the application of the Right To Know law to payments by the General Assembly was entirely ambiguous and that Treasury was not able to identify and resolve possible objections the legislature might have to the request for information.
Following a number of discussions between Treasury and House officials, House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, House Majority Leader H. William DeWeese and House Republican Leader Sam H. Smith advised Treasury in a letter dated April 4, 2007, that it did not “oppose the release of the requested information.” In light of this letter, Treasury will next week release information about checks containing payments to House employees between the dates of January 1 and January 18, 2007.
In response to a request from Treasury, the AOPC similarly advised the agency that it did not oppose the release of information relating to payments made to the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel for a judicial conference attended by Pennsylvania courts personnel in June of 2006. Treasury provided the information relating to these three payments, totaling $108,408.64, to the Patriot-News today. The AOPC independently provided its record of these payments to the paper.
In a related matter, Treasury advised Gene Stilp on March 16 that it was unable to grant his separate request for information about payments to Senate and House staff members in addition to their listed salaries based upon the same ambiguity in the Right To Know law regarding legislative expenditures. Acting Treasurer Wagner expressed optimism today that Treasury would ultimately be able to respond to the Stilp request as well.
“We are very hopeful that the decisions made by the House of Representatives and the AOPC to promote openness in government will serve as a model for providing the records that Mr. Stilp has requested,” said Acting Treasurer Wagner. “I am very encouraged by their recognition that Pennsylvania citizens should be able to have access to information about how government spends their tax dollars.”
Treasury no longer anticipates pursuing a declaratory judgment action in connection with the Murphy request for payments to the House in order to resolve the ambiguity in the Right to Know law. “I am especially pleased that we will avoid additional unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer dollars in this instance,” said Acting Treasurer Wagner.
