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April 26, 2007
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Senate to Receive Information Needed to Properly Review Cabinet Nominees

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- After Senate leaders asked for more time and information to properly review the nominations, Gov. Rendell yesterday agreed to withdraw and resubmit his nominees to serve as secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources and secretary of Environmental Protection.

"We want the public and our members to be operating in a fully informed and a fully transparent way," said Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9). "We believe this is the only way we can proceed and have a fair vote on these two nominees."

The leaders asked for more time to understand recent revelations about more than $4 million of no-bid state contracts that were awarded by the departments to organizations which employed the secretaries' spouses. They also asked the governor to seek formal opinions from the independent State Ethics Commission, which he agreed to do.

The Senate request was prompted by a desire to give the public and senators a full understanding of the situation before a final vote on the nominees. The media first reported the existence of the grants in question less than a week ago, on Friday, April 20.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said the Senate's responsibility to confirm cabinet secretaries should never be taken lightly. "This is one of our major responsibilities," he said. "Any suggestion that our request for additional time and information is somehow partisan in nature is both stunning and inappropriate."

The Associated Press reported that Senate Democrat Leader Bob Mellow (D-Lackawanna) "supported taking more time to answer questions about the grants and other matters."

Senate Republican leaders have agreed to schedule a vote on both nominees within a few legislative days after receiving the State Ethics Commission opinions. If the opinions are received by Friday, May 4, a final vote on the nominees is possible by Tuesday, May 8.

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