Friday, April 25, 2014

Honor Among Thieves: Days may be numbered for Pa. Capitol's felonous portrait collection of elected criminals

04/25/2014

York County Lawmaker Wants Felons Portraits In Capitol Removed

HARRISBURG – York County Sen. Scott Wagner plans to introduce a resolution regarding the hanging of portraits in the state Capitol honoring lawmakers who have been convicted of felonies relating to the abuse of their public office. In a memorandum, Wagner wrote that Act 140 of 1978 requires state lawmakers convicted of certain felonies to forfeit their pension benefit, yet we honor some of the same individuals with portraits in the state Capitol. Wagner added that while he recognizes that many of those individuals have played critical roles in our Commonwealth’s history and it’s impractical to leave them out of that history, he believes to revere them with portraits is a line we should not cross. Wagner’s resolution will call for an end to the practice in the state Senate and urge his colleagues in the House to do the same. Some lawmakers with portraits in the state Capitol include former Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Mellow and former House Speakers John Perzel and Bill DeWeese. The three were sent to prison on public corruption charges.

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