State official says accepting gifts, trips from vendors ‘smacks of impropriety’
The state鈥檚 auditor general said that 18 of the state鈥檚 67 counties reported officials have accepted gifts from voting machine vendors, including a trip to Las Vegas, a wine festival and distillery tour, high end meals and amusement part tickets.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 matter if the gifts or large or small. My problem is that anyone who accepted them, period, could have been swayed by some of those perks,鈥� said Auditor General Eugene DePasquale.
During a Friday press conference, DePasquale said the state legislature should create rules for officials in counties and municipalities similar to those imposed by Gov. Tom Wolf, who prohibits those under his purview from accepting anything 鈥� 鈥渆ven a bottle of water,鈥� the auditor general said 鈥� for free.
鈥淓ven if the gifts have no impact, the mere appearance of it makes it look that way,鈥� he said.
DePasquale had asked officials across the state to answer six questions about whether they accepted or were offered perks from voting machine companies as the counties work toward a Department of State mandate to upgrade voting systems by the end of this year. The new systems must have a paper record to allow for more accurate post-election audits.
Neither Fayette County鈥檚 commissioners nor Election Bureau Director Larry Blosser accepted gifts or travel, according to the statements sent to the auditor general鈥檚 office.
Responses from Blosser and Commissioners Angela M. Zimmerlink, Dave Lohr and Vincent Vicites said they have only interacted with voting machine vendors at conferences. Zimmerlink鈥檚 response noted only having one interaction with a vendor who was showing equipment.
鈥淎s a county elected official I have not accepted gifts of any kind; not served on any advisory boards; not had trips paid for by any voting equipment vendors etc.,鈥� she wrote.
Fayette County Commissioner Dave Lohr said he responded to DePasquale鈥檚 six questions, about receiving gifts and trips from the voting machine companies, and he answered that he did not.
Vicites said he agreed with DePasquale鈥檚 thoughts on setting up rules for county and municipal officials receiving gifts or travel perks.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a good thing he鈥檚 doing,鈥� Vicites said.
Currently, Vicites said, the commissioners are looking at different options for voting machines and are waiting for the state budget to pass to see what percentage of the cost the state will provide for the machines.
鈥淚鈥檓 not going to spend county tax dollars until I know how much money we鈥檙e getting from the state,鈥� Vicites said, adding that they still have to the end of the year to meet the deadline to purchase the machines so they will be in place by April 2020. 鈥淲e have to do our due diligence, and we鈥檙e doing that right now.鈥�
Like Fayette, officials Greene and Washington counties told DePasquale they neither accepted nor were offered gifts or travel perks by companies.
Washington County鈥檚 response noted that in 2016, several officials attended a demonstration of equipment where lunch, coffee and donuts were provided by two different vendors. Last year, the same two vendors held separate demonstrations at the county building and provided lunch, according to the county鈥檚 response.
Westmoreland County Director of Elections Beth Lechman, who responded last week to DePasquale鈥檚 request, said one company paid for tickets for her and her husband to attend the Lake Erie Wine Festival in September and for dinner for the couple. She indicated the cost for tickets and dinner totaled about $115. Her response also noted that one company took her and the office鈥檚 deputy director to dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto in 2018, at an estimated cost of $78 per meal.
However, she wrote, 鈥淭o the best of the county鈥檚 knowledge, there have been no trips offered and/or refused and no county officials have attended seminars or conferences 鈥榟osted鈥� by a voting system vendor.鈥�
DePasquale said officials making decisions about who will get their business 鈥渟hould not accept anything of value from companies,鈥� he said, because it 鈥渟macks of impropriety.鈥�
Yet, he said, doing so is not illegal.
DePasquale questioned what information relative to the informed purchase of voting equipment was gained by accepting gifts.
鈥淲hy did these interactions need to take place over a lobster dinner and a distillery tour?鈥� he asked.
He said he intended refer some counties鈥� responses to the state Ethics Commission.