Wolf says firing intended to protect agency’s integrity
HARRISBURG (AP) – Gov. Tom Wolf said his firing of his predecessor’s appointee as chief of the state Office of Open Records was designed to protect its integrity.
The Democratic governor, responding Monday to a state Senate Republican lawsuit challenging his action, said GOP Gov. Tom Corbett’s last-minute appointment of Erik Arneson was anything but open and transparent.
Wolf said one of Arneson’s first acts during his brief tenurare was to demote one of the agency’s lawyers in favor of a former Corbett staffer. He says by removing Arneson he was standing up against efforts to turn the open-records office into a political operation.
The lawsuit filed in Commonwealth Court says Arneson is entitled to serve a full six-year term and that Wolf illegally terminated him without cause.