The Landau campaign released the results of their analysis of the Executive Director and Personnel Departments at the Delco Courthouse:
Of the 40 employees working in the Personnel and Executive Director's offices, 38 are registered Republican and 31 are Republican Committee people or local GOP donors.
Landau also pointed to contracts given to political contributors, including those for independent audits on county expenditures.
"Our supposed independent auditors are some of the largest contributors to the local GOP coffers in the County," said Landau, pointing specifically to one auditing firm which doled out nearly $50,000 to local Republicans.
The Delco Times also covered this story: They added that ...
Mingis, Gutowski and Co., which has donated nearly $48,000 to various Republican candidates and the Delaware County Republican Finance Committee since 2000, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State Campaign Finance Reporting Web site.
Last month, county council approved Mingis, Gutowski for various single audits worth a total $83,400. Gee, that's a pretty good return on "investment". Kind of suspicious that an "independent" auditing firm is contributing money to the party of the people hiring them.
The Times also clarified one of Pat's claims about Landau getting $136,000+ from Nether Providence a supposed. example of Democratic patronage. Turns out the Democrats weren't the majority at the time.
Peterson referenced IRS 1099 forms from Nether Providence Township showing law firms Landau worked for received more than $136,000 in legal work between 1998, when Peterson said Democrats took control of council there, and 2001.
But Democrats actually got a voting edge there late in 2005. During a January 2006 reorganization, they did bring on several firms employing or run by Democrats, such as Bruce Bikin’s firm, Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads, which was appointed as special counsel on labor and personnel matters, and Frank Daly, of Daly, O’Brien and Bongaardt, who was appointed solicitor.
Between 1998 and 2001, Landau’s firms — Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP — racked up $113,006 from the township, and Hoyle, Morris and Kerr in 1998 received $23,381; a total $136,387 to the two firms.
But Sara Lynn Petrosky, former Democratic Nether Providence councilwoman and council president during that period, said council brought in all candidates for the various legal positions and reviewed them, Democrats and Republicans alike. Sometimes, she said, Democrats didn’t get who they wanted, just as some Republican council members didn’t get the people they wanted.
Back to Landau's press release:
Nepotism:
Landau also took exception to the high percentage of family members working in the courthouse. Eight of the 40 employees in Personnel and the Executive Director's office had family members working elsewhere in the county government.
Conflict of Interest:
Pointing to other potential conflicts, Landau noted that two executive county employees hold office in their local municipality.
And in Bucks County:
Sadly, this type of GOP behavior is not limited to Delco. In Bucks County, a study conducted by the Santarsiero & Marseglia campaign of
county-related Boards and Authorities in Bucks County found that patronage
and pay-to-play is prevalent to an embarrassing degree.
- Breakdown of the partisan Development, Planning and Emergency Service Boards
- 9 Republicans and 0 Democrats on the Bucks County Agricultural Land Preservation Board
- 5 Republicans and 2 Democrats on the Conservation District Board
- 9 Republicans and 0 Democrats on the Federal Lands Reuse Authority of Bucks County
- 11 Republicans and 1 Democrat on the Housing Development Corporation
- 5 Republicans and 0 Democrats on the Housing Finance Board
- 5 Republicans (chaired by Harry Fawkes) and 0 Democrats on the Industrial Development Authority
- 11 Republicans and 0 Democrats on the Local Emergency Planning Committee
- 3 Republicans and 4 Democrats on the Open Space Review Board
- 8 Republicans and 0 Democrats on the Parks & Recreation Board
- 8 Republicans and 1 Democrat on the Planning Commission
- 4 Republicans and 0 Democrats on the Redevelopment Authority
- 11 Republicans, 1 Democrat (a county employee) and 1 Other on the Solid
Waste Advisory Committee - 4 Republicans and 1 Democrat on the County Water and Sewer Authority Board
Executive Committee - 18 Republicans and 0 known Democrats on the Bucks County Economic
Development Corporation
and Authorities:
