Local Democrats Say Wolf Retaliates Against Constituents For Their GOP Budget Vote
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Local Democratic lawmakers are accusing the governor, a fellow Democrat, of hurting their local constituents.
"This is ridiculous. This is stupid. If the governor did this, shame on him," said Rep. Peter Daley, a Democrat from California, Pennsylvania.
Daley is one of 11 Democrats, many from this region, who say their constituents are being denied normal constituent services by the state in retribution for their vote for the Republican budget.
"Western Pennsylvania Democrats are not going to take this lying down," Daley told KDKA political editor Jon Delano on Friday. "We're going to fight back."
In a letter drafted by Pennsylvania Rep. Brandon Neuman of Washington, the 11 Democrats told Gov. Wolf some had experienced "shocking treatment" in getting their residents help from various state agencies.
"I want to believe it's not the governor, that it's someone in the administration making these decisions, but we want that person fired because we're going to ask for an ethics investigation because this is almost borderline illegal to have this reprisal against us because we voted a certain way," said Neuman.
Local Democrats claim their constituent requests are being side-tracked to the governor's office instead of letting state agencies handle them directly.
In a statement to KDKA, the governor's office through Jeffrey Sheridan, press secretary, denies that, saying, "This is ridiculous. Nothing has changed with respect to constituent services. Assisting the people of Pennsylvania is the governor's top priority. Everything, as it always has, is being responded to in a timely and efficient manner."
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"That is not correct, Jon," responded Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Sainato of New Castle, "because why does my office have to call the governor's office, and the legislator in the district next to me, his staff calls the liaison like we've done for the past 20 years."
Democratic lawmakers want a meeting with the governor next week.
Daley: "He better meet with us or it's probably going to be all out war."
Delano: "All out war?"
Daley: "Yeah, in our process, everybody's back in the barrel. He may not need our vote today, but he's going to need it next week. He's going to need our vote for another budget."
