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For Immediate Release
April 26, 2007
Contact: Tim Nyquist
814-726-7201
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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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