Trending
Once again, Gov. Josh Shapiro and his supporters are displaying contempt for the concept of a transparent, accountable government.
A nonprofit organization, Team Pennsylvania, has taken on the expenses of renovating the governor's residence -- a building owned and operated by the state government.
Team Pennsylvania is not disclosing how much it plans to spend on the renovations and, worse yet, who the donors funding the renovations are.
The same organization was found to be buying tickets to major sporting events -- including the Super Bowl and a Phillies' playoff game -- for Shapiro and paying for Shapiro's hotel accommodations.
As Spotlight PA reported in December of 2023, Team Pennsylvania received $1.8 million in state tax dollars in 2023 alone. Spotlight PA also noted that Shapiro wasn't particularly forthright in acknowledging how he benefits from Team Pennsylvania's generosity -- Spotlight's reporters had to request the information on who was paying for Shapiro's tickets.
No, as reported in last Tuesday's edition of the Sun-Gazette by Spotlight PA reporter Angela Couloumbis, Shapiro is again benefiting from the largesse of an organization that accepts money from Pennsylvania's taxpayers without any sense of obligation to disclose how the organization's spending choices personally benefits the state's chief executive.
The entitlement is frankly grating. The dismissiveness toward measures of accountability and openness is worse -- it's irresponsible and erodes the public trust.
Unfortunately, Shapiro's administration and its supporters -- like Team Pennsylvania -- have, so far, spent his first term earning a reputation for exactly that kind of entitlement, irresponsibility and untrustworthiness.