Apr 13, 2016 4 min read

Some Democratic lawmakers who last week cried a loud and public foul over their treatment by the governor’s office said things are back to normal.

Eleven Democratic state representatives, most from Western Pennsylvania, signed a letter dated April 5 accusing Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration of treating some of their staffs differently since they sided with Republicans last month in a vote that helped end a nearly nine-month budget stalemate between the Democratic governor and GOP-controlled Legislature.

The letter, addressed to Wolf, said some of the lawmakers’ staffers were redirected when they tried to contact legislative liaisons from state agencies. Instead, officials sent the aides to the Office of Legislative Affairs in the governor’s office.

Wolf spokesman Jeffrey Sheridan last week called the issue “ridiculous” and said “nothing has changed with respect to constituent services.”

“Everything, as it always has, is being responded to in a timely and efficient manner.”

Sheridan didn’t respond when asked if state agencies were still redirecting lawmakers’ aides to the legislative affairs office this week.

Rep. Brandon Neuman, D-North Strabane Township, said he learned from caucus leaders Friday that things were getting back to normal.

“This seems to all be behind us,” said Neuman.

Neuman was among those who signed the letter, which asked that “any thoughts of retribution be put aside.”

Another lawmaker who signed the letter, Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, said she confirmed with her staffers Monday that they were able to deal with state agencies directly.

“The services have been restored and my office and the staff – it’s back to the way it was,” she said.

Neuman, Snyder and the others who signed the letter represented all but two of the Democrats in the House who jumped ship to join Republicans back a supplemental budget bill, which included none of the new taxes Wolf was seeking to increase funding for education and other areas.

The lawmakers in their letter said they voted for the bill to end the budget impasse, which held up state subsidies for schools and other services.

“The Western Pennsylvania Democrats have historically done what they’ve needed to do for their constituents,” said Rep. Pete Daley, D-California. “We’ll work with the governor … We’ll work with whomever.”

Wolf allowed the plan to lapse into law without his signature, saying it would increase a $2 billion projected deficit in next year’s budget by another $300 million.

Joseph DiSarro, a professor and chairman of the political science department at Washington & Jefferson College, said “there’s plenty of blame to go around” for the feud between Wolf and the Legislature.

While all of the fault can’t be placed at the governor’s feet, Wolf proved inflexible in his effort to boost education funding, DiSarro said. He might be more successful if he loosened his stance against privatizing the state liquor store system, which has been a priority for Republicans.

“There’s no reason in my opinion that he couldn’t have gone to some kind of compromise on liquor stores and used that to fund education,” DiSarro said.

Last week, Daley was worried about a woman from his district who receives assistance for her energy bill through a state program but had run out of money to pay her heating bill.

When an aide from Daley’s Donora office tried to raise the issue with the Department of Human Services, the request was diverted to the legislative affairs office.

Daley said his office finally got word Tuesday officials were looking into whether there was any way to help the woman.

Daley said the redirecting of constituent services was a first in 34 years in the Legislature.

“It’s going to take a while for these wounds to heal,” he said.