ET Awards Turkey to Senator Browne & Lobbyist Wife

Their award:

"State Sen. Pat Browne and his wife, Heather Browne, fail to see the conflict of interest their relationship and their jobs have created — and how it might work against Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone. Pat Browne was the chief architect of the NIZ legislation that allows Allentown to divert earned income taxes from other towns to pay for the city’s planned hockey arena. He’s now in the process of explaining to suburban officials how the new law will affect their tax collections. There’s nothing wrong with this type of regional revenue sharing, but Heather Browne is working as a lobbyist for two businesses whose owners are pursuing development projects in downtown Allentown — in the zone that will benefit from the tax legislation. No conflict? Look again."

Although The Morning Call no longer does editorials, columnists Paul Carpenter and Bill White have condemned this husband and wife legislator and lobbyist team as well.

This story first appeared here, in NIZ à Trois: Heather Browne, J.B. Reilly and Joe Topper.

To those who say blogs have no influence or should be ignored, think again.

But to those who say that regular papers are worthless, think again. Without them, we'd know noting. Without them, most polibloggers would have nothing to say.

NIZ à Trois: Heather Browne, J.B. Reilly & Joe Topper

We all know that Senator Pat Browne drafted the NIZ legislation that was deceptively inserted the last minute in Governor Ed Rendell's 2009 Fiscal Code Update. In fact, State Rep. Julie Harhart, one of the few who actually knew what was going on, claims that's why she voted against it. House Democrats, anxious to see a budget adopted after a lengthy stalemate, either looked the other way or missed it completely.

Now Senator Browne, along with State Rep. Jennifer Mann and Allentown Mayor Edwin Pawlowski, is one of the Unholy Trinity recommending nine NIZ Board nominees to the Queen City Council on Wednesday night. Amazingly, Mann has recommended herself, too.

Now, I could forgive Browne for sincerely believing, as some do, that the best way to revitalize our urban cores is by corporate welfare, whether it's an outright grant, a KOZ or a NIZ. Never mind that it's always failed. But what's more problematic is that it appears that Senator Browne might be a little more interest in revitalizing his own financial core than that of any city.

A few short months after this NIZ became law, Senator Browne's wife suddenly became a registered lobbyist. I complained about it, and so did Rick Orloski, who was running against Browne at the time.

Now this is completely legal. Senator Jeanette Reibman's husband, Nathan, was a lawyer and lobbyist. So was State Rep Karen Ritter's husband. But the practice of a husband and wife, teaming up as legislator and lobbyist, stinks to high heaven. As Orloski noted at the time,

"Pat and Heather Browne have injected something new into Lehigh Valley politics, namely, the husband and wife team working in the Capitol with Pat Browne receiving public monies and Heather Browne receiving private monies to advance private agendas. Senators are supposed to serve the public good, not private agendas. Maybe the ideal solution is for Pat Browne to relinquish his public position and join his wife's lobbyist firm."

Voters, if they even knew what the hell was going on, thought otherwise and returned Browne to office.

According to Heather Browne's registration statement, last updated through 12/31/10, she's with Pugliese Associates, where her "expertise" in "government relations" and "business development" is lauded.

Guess who Pugliese welcomed as new clients in November?

J.B. Reilly's East Penn Realty and Joe Topper's Lehigh Gas. Reilly just happens to be the main private resource behind the NIZ, and Topper's Lehigh Gas is one of its first tenants.

All very cozy, isn't it?

Now this fails every ethical test - the Red Faced Test, the Laugh Test and my "It's Not Only Unethical - even for lobbyists where the bar is very low - But Also Probably Illegal" Test.

Now she could deny, I suppose, that Reilly and Topper are her clients. But since she runs the Allentown office for Pugliese and they are Allentown clients, that's gonna' be a hard sell.

Incidentally, Pugliese is located at 702 Hamilton Street. Why does that matter? It's where State Senator Pat Browne and Joe Topper are both located, with J. B. Reilly as their landlord. Now all we need is NIZ Board nominee Nelson Diaz as property manager of the building. That would be so cool.

Updated 11:50 PM: In fairness to State Senator Browne, I have asked for his response to this blog. I felt the story needed to be told now.

Senator Browne & The Lobbyist

Not long ago, I questioned whether it is appropriate for State Representative Jennifer Mann to be a "consultant" with an engineering and architectural outfit that does lots of state business. What compounds this problem is that Mann is a member of the "Stimulus Oversight Commission," and the firm for which she consults is involved in several stimulus projects. I was also concerned that a registered lobbyist, who may or may not be dating her, was seeing constituents in her Harrisburg office, a charge that Mann denies.

Isn't all this just asking for trouble?

What about an elected official who is actually married to registered lobbyist? Isn't that asking for trouble, too? Well, State Senator Pat Browne's wife, Heather, has been a registered lobbyist since February.

Ms. Browne lobbies for Alfred Benesch & Company (engineering), McKissack & McKissack (construction and design) and IIRP (rehabilitation for criminal offenders). They are all obviously interested in state business.

Isn't all this just asking for trouble?

Rick Orloski, who is running against Pat Browne, certainly thinks so. I almost wish he weren't, because his own political motivations can certainly be questioned. But he raises a very valid concern. Here's a portion of his own email to Senator Browne.

"Almost a year to the date, a major drama was playing out in the Florida Legislature. Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R- Miami, was named to steer an energy and environmental committee that would address removing the ban on off shore drilling in Florida. His wife, Claudia, was hired as a paid lobbyist to get the State Legislature to remove the ban. The conflict-of-interest was obvious. The de la Portilla household was directly receiving funds from people who wanted the Legislature to vote their way on an important environmental issue. More significantly, there is the psychological solace that spouses give each other. Her success was his success, and if he could further her career by voting her way, it was a win-win for the spousal relationship. Of course, spouses are expected to be there for each other.

"On June 25, 2010, CBS News carried an expose about the family connections between members of Congress and paid lobbyists. See link below. CBS identified 19 federal lobbyist closely related to members of Congress. Considering the there are 100 Senators and 435 members of Congress, that is a surprisingly low number. It appears that most Congressional families chose to avoid this conflict-of-interest.

"As observed by watchdog Craig Holman, the reason why family members are hired as lobbyist is to give money to the Congressman or his family for influence on legislation: 'We're allowing family members of senators and congressmen to be employed at very lucrative salaries by the same corporations that have business pending before Congress,' said Holman. 'It's just an obvious conflict of interest that should not be allowed.'

"As more bluntly observed by Holman: 'They're finding ways to throw money at the feet of the members of Congress, and you do it through the family members,' Holman, the watchdog, said.

"On February 1, 2010, The Pat Browne family decided to jump feet first into this conflict-of-interest minefield.Without public acknowledgment by the Senator -- no press release, no press conference, no photo op -- Heather Browne registered as a lobbyist with the Pennsylvania Department of State. To date, Browne has not addressed how he intends to address this conflict. Silence appears to be his modus operandi.

"First and foremost, let me make this abundantly clear. Heather Browne has an absolute right under the First Amendment to work as a paid lobbyist. As a matter of constitutional law, a spouse cannot be prohibited from functioning as a paid lobbyist. She probably makes more money as a lobbyist than he does as a Senator.The same is not equally true for Senator Browne. He does not have a constitutional right to be State Senator. The first remedy is at the ballot box. The citizens of the 16th senatorial district are clearly at liberty to decide that his wife's chosen profession disqualifies him from being a State Senator.

"On the opposite side of the equation, it is patently obvious that our system would not allow a judge to participate in a case where the judge's spouse has a financial interest either as counsel or party. No one would seriously argue that a judge can put aside the obvious emotional and financial considerations of helping a spouse in litigation and be fair to both sides. In the normal course of business, a judge would recuse himself/herself, or face the sanction of losing the judicial post because the judge participated in a proceeding involving a family member.

"The simple act of recusal is not so easily applied in the Legislative forum. Bills become laws because of relationships that legislators have with each other. Even if Senator Browne took the obvious step of recusing himself from votes that benefit his wife's corporate clients, there sill is the insidious opportunity of other legislators helping Heather Browne on her projects in exchange for Senator Browne helping them on their pet projects. Nota Bene: Senator Browne has not said he will recuse himself in such obvious conflicts.

"Pat and Heather Browne have injected something new into Lehigh Valley politics, namely, the husband and wife team working in the Capitol with Pat Browne receiving public monies and Heather Browne receiving private monies to advance private agendas. Senators are supposed to serve the public good, not private agendas. Maybe the ideal solution is for Pat Browne to relinquish his public position and join his wife's lobbyist firm. That is an option that the voters will have on November 2nd to compel. For too long, Harrisburg has been an insider's game. Employing a spouse to be a lobbyist is 'throwing money at the feet' of a State Senator. Pat Browne ought to join his wife in private practice , not continue functioning as a State Senator."

Ms. Browne is associated with Pugliese Associates. In their bio, they mention many of Heather's achievements, but fail to mention that she just happens to be the wife of a state senator.