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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT:
Victoria L. Stanish |
State Rep. Kathy Manderino |
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TO: Editor, Scranton Times-Tribune
FROM: State Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Phila./Montgomery
RE: Editorial on House Ethics Committee
Dear Editor:
I am writing in response to your April 12 editorial, “Independence for Ethics Panel.” Your editorial criticizes the existence of an internal House Ethics Committee and calls for the establishment of an independent, non-legislative body to hear ethics complaints against lawmakers; however, that independent, non-legislative body already exists. It’s called the State Ethics Commission, and it oversees all state and local elected and appointed officials in Pennsylvania.
Citizens can and do make complaints to the State Ethics Commission, which has the authority to investigate and to sanction unethical conduct by public officials. The existence of an internal House Ethics Committee is in addition to the independent commission, and is designed to be a place where members themselves can seek advice about their own conduct or make a complaint about another member’s conduct that may violate an internal House operational rule. I think it is important that the citizens of Pennsylvania know that their lawmakers are expected to adhere to the highest ethical standards, and that they have both external and internal processes in place to uphold those standards.
Sincerely,
State Rep. Kathy Manderino
194th Legislative District
State Rep. Kathy Manderino is a Democrat representing parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery counties in the state House.
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