HARRISBURG – Spotlight PA is reporting… A three-judge Commonwealth Court panel has directed the governor’s office to reveal key details about why it spent tens of thousands in public dollars to hire private law firms.
The ruling stems from a months-long public records fight by Spotlight PA and LNP | LancasterOnline to obtain unredacted copies of legal bills and other financial documents showing the reasons for hiring outside lawyers.
At nearly every turn, the administration — first that of former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, and more recently, that of Shapiro — has actively blocked the effort, arguing the information is privileged and thus not subject to disclosure under Pennsylvania’s public records law.
But the ruling, authored by President Judge Emerita Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter, orders the governor’s office to remove redactions it made to the subject lines of certain legal records, and left the door open to forcing it to disclose even more information about what cases or issues it paid private lawyers to handle.
The decision also revealed some of the information the administration tried to shield: namely, that it had hired lawyers to represent unnamed witnesses in law enforcement investigations, including one involving a federal grand jury. The ruling does not provide any detail about those probes.
Paula Knudsen Burke, a lawyer with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press who represented the news organizations, said she was pleased with the ruling. “Our state’s public records law exists to promote access to exactly this kind of information, which helps the public more fully understand how its government is operating.”
Neither Shapiro’s spokesperson nor a lawyer for his office responded to emails requesting comment, including whether the administration intends to appeal the ruling to Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court. The case has a long and complicated history.
