News of Interest


Pa. Senate GOP sues Wolf over ouster of Corbett appointee

Republicans who control the Pennsylvania Senate sued Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday over his firing of his predecessor’s appointee as head of the state Office of Open Records, adding fuel to a partisan clash during the new chief executive’s first week in office.
The lawsuit filed in Commonwealth Court contends that Erik Arneson, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett’s appointee and a petitioner in the lawsuit, is entitled to serve a full six-year term and that Wolf terminated him without cause in “an unlawful power grab.”


PNA Statement on the Office of Open Records

“We urge the administration and legislators to resolve this matter quickly and transparently, and to protect the credibility of the Office of Open Records that Terry Mutchler and her very committed staff worked almost seven years to establish. We further urge them to amend the law immediately to clarify any ambiguities regarding the appointment process and ensure that this does not happen again.”


Gov. Wolf fires open records director and recalls Corbett’s nominations

On his second day in office, Gov. Wolf rescinded more than two dozen eleventh-hour appointments by his predecessor – firing the state’s new open records officer, canceling judicial nominations, and effectively booting the former lieutenant governor from Temple University’s board of trustees.
Wolf’s office said he wasn’t questioning their credentials for the posts but, rather, a “murky” appointment process by Gov. Tom Corbett that he called “anything but open and transparent.”


Gov.-elect Tom Wolf schedules first class for appointees. Subject: Open government

Signaling a commitment to transparency from Day One, Gov.-elect Tom Wolf is expected to sign a executive order on Tuesday about openness in government and follow it up with training on Wednesday for himself and his Cabinet on the state’s Right to Know Law.
Delivering that training will not be Gov. Tom Corbett’s newly installed executive director of the Office of Open Records Erik Arneson, however. The trainer instead will be Arneson’s predecessor Terry Mutchler who resigned on Jan. 9 after it became apparent Corbett was not going to re-appoint her to another six-year term.