Pa. gov.-elect to impose ban on gifts

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa.

Gov.-elect Tom Wolf is restricting members of his transition team from accepting gifts of any kind, a ban that he soon plans to extend throughout the executive branch of state government.

A gift ban was included in an ethical conduct code that the Democrat said Tuesday he is requiring transition employees to sign. As governor, he plans to issue an executive order making it policy for executive-branch employees, a spokesman said.

“It’s what Tom refers to as the ‘just say no, thank you’ rule,” said Wolf spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan.

State law allows gifts of any value to public officials, including lawmakers, and requires disclosure only when the annual value reaches $250 for gifts or $650 for “free” travel, meals and lodging.

Republican Gov. Tom Corbett has reported accepting thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from lobbyists and business executives with interests in state policy, including trips on private jets and tickets to concerts and sporting events, during his four-year term. His detractors called the practice unseemly, but the administration said Corbett complied with legal requirements.

Wolf said in his “Fresh Start for Pennsylvania” campaign agenda that he would ban gifts for himself, his staff and his political appointees: “The rule will be easy to apply and easy to report — no free lunches, no free tickets to ball games and no free trips to conferences or vacation resorts.”

The pledge that Wolf transition-team members must sign also says they must disclose to the transition team any potential or actual conflict of interest and promise that they will report any such conflicts that crop up while they are on the transition team.