Bob Grotevant – 7/7/11

This page was last updated on July 7, 2011.

A disservice to taxpayers; Bob Grotevant; Beaver County Times; July 7, 2011.

Robert W. Grotevant of Brighton Township wrote a letter entitled “Casey did all he could” (12/11/06). An editor’s note said, “The writer was a senior aide to Gov. Robert P. Casey from 1987-94.” From what I can tell, Bob (also of Brighton Township) and Robert W. are the same person.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“State Rep. Jim Marshall’s decision to let his aide Craig Conforti continue to collect a state salary while running for political office is very troubling.

“One would think that Marshall would be sensitive to the appearance of conflict this situation creates, given that his predecessor is paying a huge price for using tax dollars for partisan political purposes.

“Marshall was elected in part because voters are fed up with politics as usual and with ethically questionable behavior of people in positions of public trust.

“He should be setting an example in this instance to avoid not only a potential conflict involving his aide, but the mere appearance of a conflict.

“Conforti should have done the right thing and resigned his state employment when he became his party’s nominee for Beaver County Commissioner.

“At the very least, Marshall should put Conforti on an unpaid leave of absence for the remainder of the campaign to avoid even the suggestion of impropriety.

“Anything less is a disservice to the taxpayers of Beaver County and Pennsylvania.”

[RWC] Perhaps I’m missing something, but how does Mr. Conforti running for office while working for a state rep differ from elected state politicians “collect[ing] a state salary while running for political office” re-election?

In 2002, Vince Biancucci (D) ran to replace retiring State Rep. Nick Colafella (D-15), for whom Mr. Biancucci served as executive assistant. A quick Google search found nothing to suggest Mr. Biancucci went on “an unpaid leave of absence” to campaign. Another Google search found no evidence to indicate Mr. Grotevant had a problem with Mr. Biancucci “collect[ing] a state salary while running for political office” or found it “very troubling.”