Shapiro administration subpoenaed for records detailing use of public funds to upgrade governor’s private home

A GOP-led committee voted along party lines to issue subpoenas for records detailing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s use of public funds to fortify his private home following an April arson attack.

By ANGELA COULOUMBIS
Spotlight PA

HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania Senate panel has taken the rare and dramatic step of subpoenaing the Shapiro administration for a wide range of records detailing the more than $1 million in publicly- funded security upgrades being made to the governor’s private home in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The GOP-led state Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee voted on Tuesday along party lines to issue subpoenas for information involving Gov. Josh Shapiro’s use of taxpayer funds for the upgrades, which range from a new security system to extensive landscaping and groundskeeping work around his property in Montgomery County.

The administration has said the upgrades were recommended by Pennsylvania State Police following the arson attack earlier this year on the state-owned governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, where Shapiro stays when he is in the capital. The Democratic governor and his family were asleep inside at the time, but escaped unharmed.

The committee’s chair, Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman of Lehigh County, on Tuesday said the subpoenas are necessary to obtain information about how and why the decision was made to spend public funds on Shapiro’s personal home, and precisely how that money is now being spent.

He said he has asked the administration for the information multiple times over the past two months, but only received partial or incomplete records.

“This is about setting a precedent,” Coleman said in a statement. “No administration — Republican or Democrat — should be allowed to operate in the shadows when public funds are involved. Are we just going to give every future governor a blank check to spend on security without any oversight?”

Democrats on the committee strenuously objected to the subpoenas, asserting they fall outside the scope of the committee’s authority — which they argue instead lies with law enforcement agencies or other state agencies with investigative powers.

“When you start issuing subpoenas, you are crossing a line,” state Sen. Vince Hughes (D., Philadelphia), a member of the committee, said during the hearing. “We are not the [state] attorney general, we are not the auditor general, we are not these investigative authorities of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

He and state Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) also noted that the information being requested includes audio and video recordings made by State Police that includes personal information not just on the Shapiro’s, but others who live in his Montgomery County neighborhood.

“It’s an invasion of privacy,” Costa said, adding: “I don’t understand what the legislative purpose of receiving that information is. It’s almost as if you are trying to find a gotcha moment … which doesn’t exist. It’s just uncalled for. It’s inappropriate.”

Legislative subpoenas are sparingly used — and when they are, have resulted in lengthy litigation.

For instance, following President Donald Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen, the same GOP-led state Senate committee issued subpoenas in 2021 for election records that included sensitive voter information.

The case eventually landed before Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court, which ruled in 2024 that the subpoena had become unenforceable because it had been issued in a legislative session that had since expired. At the time, it was viewed as a victory for Democrats who had sought to block the subpoena.

It is not yet known whether the Shapiro administration intends to fight the most recent subpoenas in court. One subpoena was issued to State Police; another was issued to Abington Township, where the Shapiros reside (the Shapiros had requested a zoning variance over the summer involving one of the security upgrades). A third and unrelated subpoena was issued for records involving Shapiro’s use of state-owned aircraft.

State Police spokesperson Logan Brouse said in an email that his agency has “made hundreds of pages of documents available to Sen. Coleman — including documents that directly respond to his latest inquiries.” He said State Police are also reviewing the subpoena “to ensure a response that protects the safety of the Governor and the First Family.”

He did not directly respond to a question about whether State Police intend to sue to block the subpoena.

In an email, Shapiro spokesperson Will Simons said: “The Shapiro administration has repeatedly responded to lawmakers’ inquiries on this matter and publicly released a substantial amount of information about the security improvements put in place by [State Police] without compromising those security protocols.”

He wrote that while Shapiro was in Washington, D.C., Tuesday for a panel about the rise of political violence, “Sen. Coleman is once again showing clear disregard for the governor and his family’s safety — leveling partisan attacks through the press instead of working in good faith to protect the Governor and future governors while carefully stewarding taxpayer dollars.”

Using records obtained through the state’s Right-to-Know Law, Spotlight PA has reported that the upgrades to Shapiro’s private home are expected to cost just over $1,075,000.

That work, paid by State Police, includes $311,230.50 for a security system, $44,026.91 for electrical work to install the system, and $107,073.75 for engineering and design fees.

It also includes an estimated $12,207.15 for general construction; $81,043.84 for tree trimming; $17,968.50 for trenching to install the security system; and $288,736 for landscaping and maintenance involving the exterior grounds.

State Police officials have said some of those costs are not finalized and might change.

A Shapiro spokesperson previously told Spotlight PA that before carrying out any of the security improvements at the governor’s family home, the governor consulted with the State Ethics Commission to ensure there was no improper financial gain. Pennsylvania has strict ethics rules that broadly prohibit public officials from personally benefiting from their positions.

But records obtained by Spotlight PA, including purchase orders and invoices, contradict that assertion. Some of those purchase orders show work at Shapiro’s home began over the summer, almost two months before the State Ethics Commission issued its advisory opinion in early October.

The opinion said that the security upgrades — which the governor’s office did not detail or even broadly describe to the commission when asking for guidance — did not constitute a personal benefit, given the governor’s position in state government and the circumstances that necessitated the work.

Shapiro officials have repeatedly declined to respond to questions about the timing of the work.

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