To Protect Pennsylvania Taxpayers, Treasurer Stacy Garrity Releases Settlement Agreement Payments Approved by the State Attorney General for Security Work Already Completed at[...]

Harrisburg, PA - To address expected litigation from unpaid vendors who provided security work at Gov. Shapiro's private residence, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity today confirmed that the Pennsylvania Treasury Department has approved over $1 million in settlement payments, an agreement approved by Attorney General Dave Sunday.

"As I previously concluded, the Attorney General found the Shapiro administration did not have the legal authority to spend public dollars for work at his private home and did not follow appropriate contracting procedures. Unfortunately, my approval of these settlement payments is necessary to prevent costly litigation that the Commonwealth would likely lose to the vendors who completed more than $1 million of work at the Governor's home without any payment authority.

"The bottom line is that the Shapiro Administration cut corners and instead of seeking legislative permission to spend public dollars to make improvements at the Governor's personal home, they entered into contracts with three vendors with no authority to pay them. This created the likelihood of litigation which would have cost Pennsylvania taxpayers even more."

Treasury's action to pay the settlement agreement should not be interpreted as approval of the conduct that gave rise to the settlement. In May, Treasurer Garrity announced that after a thorough review, there was no legal authority for the payment for work done at the Governor's private residence, which led to a settlement agreement decision by Attorney General Sunday's office.

In a letter accompanying the agreement, Attorney General Sunday concluded that established Commonwealth contracting procedures were not followed by Pennsylvania State Police prior to the contracted work being done. In addressing the initial payment request that was denied by the Treasurer, he confirmed that the law does not allow for public funding of construction on private residences and that the Treasurer had no legal option other than to deny payment.

Attorney General Sunday also determined that because the Shapiro Administration failed to follow the Commonwealth's procurement laws, resolving the matter through a settlement agreement was necessary to protect the Commonwealth from additional litigation and expense since a court would most likely rule in favor of the vendors.

"This has never been about questioning the need for appropriate security for the governor, and it was never about making a political statement as some have suggested. This is about following the law, and my sworn duty as state treasurer is to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and that established procedures are followed - which they were not - and now this settlement agreement is necessary to protect taxpayers from even greater costs.

"I still have concerns about the contracting and review process that allowed construction improvements to be made on private property - the Governor's personal home - without legislative approval. Because spending rules were not followed or were simply ignored and understanding that future security needs may require work on public official homes, an independent review into this matter is warranted."

To learn more about Pennsylvania Treasury, visit patreasury.gov and be sure to stay up to date with all Pennsylvania Treasury news on Facebook (PA Treasurer Stacy Garrity) and Instagram (@PATreasury).