A State Senator called attention to Gov. Shapiro for his “frivolous” use of taxpayer funds.
Kristin Phillips-Hill, a Republican State Senator from York County, criticized Gov. Josh Shapiro for his use of taxpayer funds in his administration. Phillips-Hill cited Shapiro’s “more-than-doubled” communications staff, as well as his frequent use of state-owned private plane. The comments from Phillips-Hill and her Republican colleagues came at the final day of a 3-week stretch of Senate Appropriations Committee hearings, where Gov. Shapiro’s proposed $51.5 billion state budget for 2025-26 was of chief concern.
Sen. Phillips-Hill detailed that Shapiro’s communications staff had 26 people listed, while his predecessor, Gov. Tom Wolf, had just 12. She further criticized the governor’s use of Commonwealth Media Services, an agency within the Department of General Services that functions as a “full-service multimedia and marketing provider for commonwealth agencies.” The communications staff is also responsible for Shapiro’s active presence on social media, which Phillips-Hill deemed “frivolous.”
Describing the social media content further, Phillips-Hill pointed to one post in particular that “showed Gov. Shapiro as a character in a mock video game, and another with him dancing with people from a podcast episode on TikTok.” Phillips-Hill further criticized the governor for allegedly bringing a photography staff to inappropriate situations, which the state senator called “tragic.” She did not specify any particular events where Gov. Shapiro’s staff was present in any unusual capacities.
Uri Monson, Mr. Shapiro’s Budget Secretary, defended the governor’s spending, specifically Phillips-Hill’s comments about photographers present at tragic situations. “I think it’s important when there are events like that in the Commonwealth, for everyone to see the governor there, see our leadership there, see everyone who is there, to understand that this is something that affects us and that there are people in charge,” Mr. Monson said. “I think that’s really important.” Mr. Monson, mentioning his own children’s use of social media, said that the way campaigns and governments share information has changed, and cited social media as a key way for Gov. Shapiro to communicate. Phillips-Hill argued that the state’s $3.2 billion structural budget deficit should be of greater concern to Democrats, asking whether the state “should continue to subsidize what appears to be frivolous content that provides little value to taxpayers.”
Phillips-Hill’s concerns were echoed by Allentown-area State Senator Jarrett Coleman, who agreed on Gov. Shapiro’s excessive use of state resources for travel. He cited a $300,000 price tag in 2024 as something that should be “of note” to taxpayers. A majority of his travel comes via the PennDot plane, which is available to high-ranking state officials, according to Sen. Coleman. He noted alleged inaccuracies in PennDot’s data, however, and called it “full of omissions.” Coleman cited alleged uses of the plane by Gov. Shapiro that should not have been in his official capacity as governor, noting in particular a trip to throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 3 of MLB’s National League Division Series last October, as well as leaving a family vacation to attend a funeral. Coleman called for greater transparency, and said taxpayers “shouldn’t have to play detective” when it comes to Gov. Shapiro’s use of taxpayer funds.
