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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Jake Wheatley |
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Wheatley welcomes leaders' decision to have special panel probe Penn State
HARRISBURG, Nov. 17 – State Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Allegheny, today welcomed legislative leaders' decision to set up a bipartisan House-Senate special legislative committee to investigate the critical situation at Penn State University, as he proposed earlier this week.
In a follow-up letter to the leaders today, Wheatley outlined his priorities as leaders work out the details of the special committee.
Wheatley said the committee "must scrutinize whether individuals, agencies, departments and institutions were in compliance with local, state and federal laws. We must question whether there have been actions or inactions that were directly a result of any gap in our laws, lack of training of persons involved, or willful disregard for truth and justice. The special committee will need that baseline of understanding and discovery in order to move forward to address what I believe we all agree is the most critical task: making recommendations regarding how we can strengthen our governmental systems to prevent crimes of this magnitude from ever happening again."
Another key concern for Wheatley is ensuring diversity on the committee: "We must make sure to put forward only the best candidates regardless of position, rank, or title. We must strive to ensure diversity among committee membership, whether pertaining to gender, political ideology, race, religion, or age, for both legislative and non-legislative members. While lawmakers will play a vital role in this process, child advocacy groups, law enforcement, legal experts, academics, educators and parents should too because they each can provide professional expertise or bring a unique perspective to the conference table. Finally, I think it goes without saying that no candidate for membership on this committee should be in any way associated with ongoing investigations, for the sake of integrity toward the committee."
Wheatley concluded, "To get this right, the proposed bipartisan, bicameral committee must represent a diverse group of individuals who come together to seek the truth and who will work toward improving a flawed system – there is no room at the table for someone who has a political axe to grind. Diverse participation from beginning to end will properly ensure all voices are heard when we ask ourselves these difficult questions, so that we can, to the best of our abilities, minimize the chances of a heinous crime like this from happening again and also to better ensure that all reports of abuse or assault are promptly investigated and adjudicated in the future."
The full text of Wheatley's letter to legislative leaders is posted on his website -- www.pahouse.com/Wheatley -- under "Stay Informed – Letters."
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