Politics overshadow Pennsylvania’s state department budget hearing
(The Center Square) – Politics overshadowed a budget hearing for the Pennsylvania Department of State on Wednesday after the Republican chairman threatened to silence members who mentioned the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Stan Saylor, R-York, shut down a line of questioning from Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, D-Philadelphia, that mentioned the attack, telling members he “warned” them not to bring it up.
“I will not recognize lawmakers who are going in that direction and I will turn their mics off,” he said. “This about the budget process and only the budget process.”
Minority Chairman Matthew Bradford, D-Montgomery, defended Fiedler’s question as fair, at times shouting down Saylor as he repeated his warning.
“I’ve said repeatedly, let’s lower the temperature,” he said. “Let’s have a good-natured discussion about this. Listen, state funds are spent on elections, too.”
“We are not gonna reiterate those kinds of things,” Saylor said. “This is on a budget hearing. My ruling is final.”
Acting Secretary Veronica Degraffenreid also fielded questions about changes the department will make in the wake of a clerical error that botched advertising for a constitutional amendment.
“We recognize the gap and have developed a step by step procedure to make sure these failings do not occur in the future,” she said.
Degraffenreid stepped into the role last week after Kathy Boockvar resigned over the mistake. A report from the Office of Inspector General into why the department failed to advertise the proposed amendment – which would have opened a two-year window for survivors of child sex abuse to file civil suits against their abusers – remains forthcoming, though it’s unclear if it will be made available to the public.
“I believe the results from the investigation will be made public and we will take any recommendations that come out of the process to heart,” she said.
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