(The Center Square) – Questions surrounding taxpayer money spent upgrading the governor’s private residence were legally elevated Tuesday.
Senate Republicans, eager to curb state spending — and to play the foil to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro — have long had their eye on excessive spending from the executive office.
Tuesday, the Senate Intergovernmental Operations committee announced that they’ve issued three subpoenas to get a better sense of the nature of a $1 million dollar expenditure on the governor’s private residence.
The residence in question is the governor’s family home in Abington outside of Philadelphia. Senate Republicans say the request came after “months of stonewalling and incomplete responses from state agencies and local officials.”
The spending occurred after Shapiro’s official residence in Harrisburg was firebombed in April. The attacker, Cody Balmer, pled guilty to, among other charges, attempted murder.
The subpoenas were issued to Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris requesting a copy of the May 2025 independent security assessment made of Abington residence. It also requests “contracts, invoices and communications related to construction and security work at the governor’s private home and a neighboring property.”
Body cam footage from officers on the property between Sep. 20 and Nov. 19, 2025 was also requested from the Pennsylvania State Police.
A subpoena was also sent to Abington Township for communications, permits, applications, and hearing transcripts involving the construction.
“This is about setting a precedent,” said committee chair Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Allentown. “No administration — Republican or Democrat — should be allowed to operate in the shadows when public funds are involved. Are we just going to give every future governor a blank check to spend on security without any oversight?”
Coleman took issue with the fact that the General Assembly wasn’t informed about the Montgomery County expenses.
“Arguably we are in this position today because our laws and procedures do not address this situation. We as legislators can fix that,” Coleman said. “We need to evaluate if our laws as they are written today are enough to protect the governor and the taxpayers of Pennsylvania at the same time. I believe there is a place where those both can exist.”
In addition to work done in Abington, $32 million was spent to repair and update the Governor’s Mansion, which was badly damaged in the fire.
A third subpoena was issued to Let’s Go Air, Inc. for charter flights taken from Jan. 14 to 16 of this year. The request appears to be unrelated to the others but in line with ongoing scrutiny of Shapiro’s travel by Coleman.
Shapiro will be speaking alongside Utah Gov. Spencer Cox in Washington D.C. Tuesday night on the topic of political violence. Like Shapiro, Cox was drawn into the headlines when influencer Charlie Kirk was assassinated in his state. President Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt in Butler last year, will be speaking at a rally in the state Tuesday.
