Corbett's team jingles with donors

HARRISBURG -- Gov.-elect Tom Corbett's transition team has a lot more to offer than expertise on energy policy, welfare reform and education programs.

Many of the members also have access to plenty of money -- and during the campaign, they handed bundles of it to Mr. Corbett.

Together, transition team members contributed $1.9 million to the Shaler Republican's gubernatorial campaign, while companies they work for, their co-workers and political action committees controlled by their employers kicked in another $2.7 million.

That's nearly 19 percent of the $24.5 million the Corbett campaign spent on the primary and general elections.

Corbett spokesman Kevin Harley said the governor-elect and his top advisers did not consider campaign contributions -- or even party affiliation -- when they picked transition team members.

Some, such as state Rep. Tom Caltagirone of Bucks County, are Democrats. Others, such as Citizens Bank CEO Dan Fitzpatrick, contributed to the gubernatorial campaign of Mr. Corbett's Democratic opponent, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato.

Two-thirds, though, have a financial relationship to Mr. Corbett's campaign -- they, their companies or their colleagues contributed to Mr. Corbett, to Lt. Gov.-elect Jim Cawley or to political action committees that pumped money into their campaign.

The transition team member who provided the most to Mr. Corbett -- $334,286 over the past three years -- was Vahan Gureghian, a Gladwyne lawyer who operates the state's largest charter school and owns a billboard company.

Mr. Gureghian was tapped to serve on the education committee and to lead the 27-member transportation committee, along with two former PennDOT administrators.

He did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Harley said members were asked not to speak about their work with reporters because "the transition is not really a public event."

Observers have noted that the committees are packed with Republicans and lobbyists who have an interest in guiding policy and are willing to pay for access to decision makers.

"Every donor would claim they contributed out of an interest in supporting a candidate who reflects their values and ideology, not because they expect any policy favors or anything. But, at the very least, they expect access," said Jan Jarrett, executive director of PennFuture, a statewide environmental group with no representatives on the transition team.

Government watchdog Barry Kauffman agreed.

"Getting access is probably 50 percent of the game. If you can get in and make your pitch on the things that are important to you, you have a significantly elevated prospect of winning," said Mr. Kauffman, executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause of Pennsylvania.

The transition is being handled differently in New York, said Sharon Ward, executive director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center. There, she noted, Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo "made it a point not to name any contract lobbyists to his transition team."

Mr. Harley said the only thing campaign donors will get for their contributions is the satisfaction of knowing they helped elect a governor with an ideology similar to their own.

"Any campaign contributor who believes they're going to get something in return other than good government will find out they're sadly mistaken," he said.

Still, he acknowledged that many of Mr. Corbett's top financial supporters received invitations to serve on the transition team.

They weren't named to the team because of their contributions, he said, but because they are "people who have been supportive of him, people that believe in him and believe in his philosophy of government."

He stressed that committee members will not recommend policy. Rather, they will meet with department heads, point out which programs are working best, recommend efficiencies and identify issues Mr. Corbett will need to address during his first few months in office.

Still, Jim Burn, chairman of the Pennsylvania State Democratic Party, is concerned that lobbyists and industry executives will be playing an advisory role.

"They're going to be looking at departments through a jaded prism. These folks have a stake in the game," he said. Mr. Corbett "is asking them to give an objective opinion. If he believes that's what he's going to get, he is only fooling himself."

Lobbyists from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney of Pittsburgh funneled more than $134,000 to the Corbett campaign, according to contribution records kept by the Department of State. The firm wound up with 11 of its lobbyists appointed to the transition team, including three to top spots on Mr. Corbett's core team of advisers.

The firm has numerous clients whose businesses are affected by state regulators. They include companies in the energy, health, telecommunications, transportation, biotechnology, banking and insurance industries, according to lobbying disclosure reports.

Meanwhile, the lobbying firm Greenlee Partners provided $32,000 to Mr. Corbett and wound up with seats on the insurance and commonwealth committees. The firm's clients include insurance providers, auto manufacturers, banks and casinos.

The law firm McNees Wallace and Nurick, whose associates provided $140,000, mostly through a political-action committee, is represented on two committees, energy and transportation.

Jefferson Health System President David Simon provided $20,000 to the campaign, while some of his employees provided another $3,400. Mr. Simon was named co-chairman of the insurance and welfare committees and serves on the health and aging committee. The health center's director and senior counsel, Todd Shamash, also was named to three committees.

Mr. Corbett could have instilled more confidence in the direction of his administration if his transition team were more balanced, Mr. Kauffman said.

"Certainly, the governor is entitled to have anyone he wants to advise him do so. I just think the governor would be better served if he broadened the base of those he asks to do the advising," he said. "The transition team is weighted very heavily with lobbyists and people who are doing -- or who want to do -- business with the state."