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For Immediate
Release
4/26/07
CONTACT:
Erik Arneson
earneson@pasen.gov
(717) 787-4712
Senate to Receive Information Needed to
Properly Review Cabinet Nominees
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- After
Senate leaders asked for more time and information to properly review the
nominations, Gov. Rendell yesterday agreed to withdraw and resubmit his nominees
to serve as secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources and secretary of
Environmental Protection.
"We want the public and our members to be operating
in a fully informed and a fully transparent way," said Senate Majority Leader
Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware). "We believe this is the only way we can proceed
and have a fair vote on these two nominees."
The leaders asked for more time to understand recent
revelations about more than $4 million of no-bid state contracts that were
awarded by the departments to organizations which employed the secretaries'
spouses. They also asked the governor to seek formal opinions from the
independent State Ethics Commission, which he agreed to do.
The Senate request was prompted by a desire to give
the public and senators a full understanding of the situation before a final
vote on the nominees. The media first reported the existence of the grants in
question less than a week ago, on Friday, April 20.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said the
Senate's responsibility to confirm cabinet secretaries should never be taken
lightly. "This is one of our major responsibilities," he said. "Any suggestion
that our request for additional time and information is somehow partisan in
nature is both stunning and inappropriate."
The Associated Press reported that Senate Democrat
Leader Bob Mellow (D-Lackawanna) "supported taking more time to answer questions
about the grants and other matters."
Senate Republican leaders have agreed to schedule a
vote on both nominees within a few legislative days after receiving the State
Ethics Commission opinions. If the opinions are received by Friday, May 4, a
final vote on the nominees is possible by Tuesday, May 8.
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