Though PA Democrats continue introducing legislation for sexual harassment survivors, the state party remains in hot water as its leader reportedly undermines sexual misconduct investigation.
Gov. Josh Shapiro is facing backlash after administration representatives confessed that emails relevant to a sexual misconduct investigation have been deleted.
Critics of the administration are calling for legal sanctions after an administration attorney admitted there was no trace of emails sent and received by a deputy aide in its Legislative Affairs Office during a crucial time period. The emails would have served as key evidence of the aide’s experience suffering sexual harassment at the hands of Mike Vereb, Shapiro’s former Legislative Affairs secretary.
Though Shapiro’s attorney claimed it “should not be surprising” that the office had not retained the aide’s emails, an attorney for the reporter who filed a Right to Know request to obtain the emails called the deletion “stunning.” Notably, record retention protocols dictated by Commonwealth law typically see emails kept for between three and eight years after state employment ends.
“Josh Shapiro! Why were emails deleted? This is a blatant cover-up,” wrote Greg Rothman, Chairman of the Pennsylvania GOP, in a social media statement.
“Sexual misconduct of any kind has no place in society. This is disappointing to hear and an indictment of an administration that does not value transparency. Governor Shapiro needs to take responsibility and explain why the cover-up. The people of Pennsylvania deserve better.”
Vereb’s sexual misconduct scandal, which included a nearly $300,000 settlement funded with taxpayer dollars, has continued to haunt the Shapiro administration at various turns. In 2024, Shapiro’s handling of the case drew national criticism as the governor vied to be selected as vice presidential running mate to Democratic general election candidate Kamala Harris.
“The more that’s reported for the public about Gov. Shapiro’s handling of sexual harassment in his office, the worse it gets,” wrote the National Women’s Defense League in August 2024 after Shapiro claimed he did not know about the sexual harassment allegations until months after they occurred. “What we know of Gov. Shapiro’s actions indicate an alarming negligence and a pattern of endangering women that work for and with his office.”
Shapiro’s mishandling of the harassment case also casts a dark shadow over the efforts of legislators in his party to align Democrats with survivors of sexual assault. As democratic lawmakers circulate legislation claiming to help survivors, their counterparts in the GOP remain skeptical of the opposing party leader’s commitment to doing so.
Looking for the emails.#ChirpChirp pic.twitter.com/MeTrarDhbp
— Sen. Kim Ward (@SenatorKimWard) March 12, 2025
Pa. Senator and President Pro Tempore Kim Ward took to social media to press Shapiro, writing, “‘last I checked’ you claimed to have properly investigated the sexual harassment incident in your office. ‘Last I checked’ key emails are missing. Now there’s a case before Commonwealth Court regarding those deleted emails. Anything else?”
Ward’s sharp words came in response to a Tuesday press conference, in which the governor dodged a question from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette regarding the missing emails by calling it “strange” the reporter was citing Broad + Liberty’s coverage of the scandal.
