Carolyn Comitta has been Mayor of West Chester since January of 2010. Her second term is over at the end of 2017. When folks have asked Mayor Comitta about the process for replacing her as Mayor, she has stated that her lawyers (hopefully not paid by taxpayers) say if she doesn’t take the compensation for being Mayor, she doesn’t have to resign. So, she will just stay in office until the end of her term while simultaneously serving as a “full-time legislator” with perks, pensions and subsided health care.
Rep. Comitta’s plan may violate Article II, Section 6 of the Commonwealth’s Constitution
§ 6. Disqualification to hold other office.
No Senator or Representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office under this Commonwealth to which a salary, fee or perquisite is attached. No member of Congress or other person holding any office (except of attorney-at-law or in the National Guard or in a reserve component of the armed forces of the United States) under the United States or this Commonwealth to which a salary, fee or perquisite is attached shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
In Rock the Capital’s opinion, not accepting a salary (which could also be factored in pension calculation) does not negate a Conflict of Interest. Since there is a salary “attached” to numerous publicly elected positions, whether or not you take the salary is moot. Holding two positions creates a conflict of interest, and deprives constituents of “full-time” representation.
None of the Borough Council meeting minutes have been posted on-line since the day that Mayor Comitta was declared the winner of a hotly contested election.
RTC is waiting for minutes to get posted on the Borough’s web site, indicating whether Rep. Comitta or Mayor Comitta was or was not present for meetings, and what she may have said or done in the capacity of Mayor.
The proper remedy, in Rock the Capital’s opinion, would have been for the House to refuse to swear Mayor Comitta in until she resigned as Mayor.
Mayor Comitta owns a business with her husband Tom, called Tom Comitta Associates (“TCA”) that does planning for several municipalities in the legislative district, including East Goshen Township.
One of the Townships where TCA was contracted to provide planning services is East Goshen. Rep. Comitta will now be able to push for funding for municipalities which in turn can hire TCA, and it would be possible for tax dollars to wind up in her own pocket. When Sen. Fumo received benefits for his colleagues’ appointments, contracts and disbursements to non-profits , he wound up in jail.
Ironically, Rep. Kirkland who has served two elected positions simultaneously, and was investigated by the State Ethics Commission http://www.rockthecapital.com/11/21/pennsylvania-state-ethics commission-issued-final-adjudication-matter-ethics-act/, actually proposed a bill last session to prohibit legislators from holding an interest in firms that do business with municipalities in their legislative districts.
Dan Truitt, (R) who Comitta defeated in the the General Election cosponsored Kirkland’s the legislation. This proposal may have been a part of Governor Wolf’s reform package since the bill number was among the others in that package (HB-1979).
Mayor/Rep. Comitta’s web page lists her occupation as “Mayor” and VP of TCA. legis.state.pa.us. “Carolyn is Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Thomas Comitta Associates (TCA). In this capacity, Carolyn is an integral member of the TCA team, providing experienced leadership based in a strong commitment to the planning and design field, environmental sustainability, education, and public health.”
http://www.carolyncomitta.com/meet-carolyn
The Trend
The growing trend of southeastern legislators holding two publicly elected positions simultaneously was led by Rep. Mario Civera.
“Civera, 63, said last spring that he would retire from the legislature if elected to the five-member Delaware County Council. But after winning the county post in November, Civera said last month that he wanted to help “tie up loose ends” of the state’s 2009-2010 budget, including the long-debated table-games bill that was finally signed into law last week. (Inquirer, Joelle Farrell and Amy Worden, January 13, 2010.)
More than a month after being sworn in as a Delaware County Commissioner, Rep. Mario Civera (R., Delaware) is still occupying his House seat in Harrisburg. (Philadelphia Inquirer, February 26, 2010.) Mr. Civera cashed out with a pension of $73,275. 12 and walked away with a lump sum payment of $165,106.67. (SERS RTK Request, June, 2013)
And then there’s Rep. Chelsa Wagner, D-Allegheny. First elected in the wave of “reform” in 2006, she was elected as controller for Allegheny County in November 2011. But she has rejected the $65,000 salary of the job she just won so that she can continue to collect the $82,000 salary of the job she doesn’t want.
Eric Epstein of Rock the Capital said, “It’s past time for a ‘resign-to run’ law in Pennsylvania. Five states, including Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Hawaii, and Texas, do not allow certain public officials to use their positions as an elective launch pad. In Pennsylvania, this type of double dealing allows politicians to play a two-card monty with taxpayer dollars.”
Rock the Capital supports a “resign-to-run” law that does not target officials, and is modeled on the Florida statute. Florida’s “resign-to- run” law prohibits elected or appointed “officers” from qualifying as a candidate for another state, district, county or municipal public office if the terms or any part of the terms overlap with each other if the person did not resign from the office the person presently holds. (Section 99.012(3), Florida Statutes.)