HARRISBURG, PA — Tea Party Republican state Senator Scott Wagner tried to clear the path for his endorsed candidate in a GOP primary by suggesting he could deliver another candidate a “judgeship” or “government legal work in exchange for exiting the race,” according to a new ABC27 report.
York lawyer Scott Harper, who is running for the nomination in Pennsylvania’s 31st senatorial district against three other candidates — including Wagner-backed, Mike Regan — said he met with Wagner and his political operatives at the Capitol to discuss what seems to be a quid-pro-quo. Harper called the conversation “a little weird, a little fishy,” with offers “being tossed about.”
In a statement today, Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesman Preston Maddock said:
“If this report is true, Scott Wagner’s behavior is indefensible. He attempted to use the power of public office, while in a meeting at a public building, to offer taxpayer-financed positions for his personal political gain. Besides it being an affront to the conservative and reform values he supposedly holds, this episode is exactly why the public distrusts government. Scott Wagner and his political hatchet men should be ashamed of their thuggish conduct.”
ABC27 (WHTM): Did York’s Senator Wagner try to influence race to replace Vance?
By Dennis Owens – March 8, 2016
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) – It was a meeting at the Capitol cafeteria last month and lots more than food was on the table, according to York lawyer Scott Harper.
“It just seemed a little weird, a little fishy,” Harper recalled from his West York law office of the meeting with political operatives.
He said offers were being tossed about.
“Are you interested in judgeships? Can we help you with that? I said no. Just because I’m a lawyer doesn’t mean I want to progress on to judge,” Harper said.
What Harper wants, he says, is to replace retiring Senator Pat Vance (R-Cumberland/York). He’s one of four Republican candidates in the race that will be decided in the April 26 primary. Harper and Representative Mike Regan are from York County. Jon Ritchie and Brice Arndt are challenging from Cumberland County.
Harper, a virtual unknown among the three better-known candidates, says that meeting in the cafeteria was with political operatives of Senator Scott Wagner (R-York) who supports Regan. After declining help with a judgeship, Harper says he was offered government legal work in exchange for exiting the race. He says he turned that down, too.
“Me being out helps Mike Regan,” Harper said because Regan would be the only candidate from York. “With Brice Arndt being in, helps Mike Regan. I think it’s a manipulation on possibly Scott Wagner’s behalf.”
… Wagner now heads the Senate Republican Campaign Committee. Just two years ago he railed against the SRCC for trying to block his candidacy and clear the field for his opponent, Ron Miller. Wagner’s TV ad in 2014 contained this sentence, “Let’s send a message together that we aren’t settling for their handpicked candidates and backroom deals any longer.”
Harper says it wasn’t in a backroom, but there was an offered deal in the cafeteria.
“That’s a little hypocritical,” Harper said.
Read the full story here.
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