Gov. Rendell this week agreed to give the Senate more time to consider his nominees to head the departments of Environmental Protection and Conservation and Natural Resources, after the Senate said it needed answers to questions about grants given out by the agencies.

The Senate did take action on other Rendell cabinet appointments, including Dennis Wolff to be Secretary of Agriculture.

Both Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) and Minority Leader Robert Mellow (D-Luzerne) agreed the delay was needed since both nominations were on their last day for consideration before Gov. Rendell agreed to withdraw and then resubmit the nominations to give the Senate more time.

The Senate questions revolved around grants given to organizations that employed the spouses of DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty and DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis.

The Senate asked the Governor to obtain an Ethics Commission determination on the issues and if the opinion is received by May 4, Senate Leadership promised a vote on the nominations by May 8.

In the case of Secretary McGinty, a grant was given to the Pennsylvania Environmental Council for a project involving the nutrient credit trading pilot project in the Conestoga River Watershed in Lancaster County, a small portion of which-- $3,747-- was paid to Dr. Karl Hausker, Secretary McGinty’s husband and an economist, for an economic analysis of the credit market.

“PEC has a longstanding record of receiving and delivering high quality results for grants from both private foundations and public agencies; we have received grants awarded on a competitive basis from several state agencies under both Republican and Democratic Administrations. We receive these grants because of the excellent work that PEC does with its partners on projects in every region of the state,” said Brian Hill, President & CEO of the Council. “This is a case of someone kicking up dirt, calling it smoke, and asking for others to find fire. There is no smoke and no fire.”

Secretary DiBerardinis’ wife, Joan Reilly, runs a parks program for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, which received $1.5 million to implement part of the TreeVitalize Program that encourages tree planting in the five-county Philadelphia area.

The Rendell Administration said while both Secretaries approved the final grant award recommendations, but agency staff selected the winners in a competitive process.

In the case of the DEP grant, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and DEP have a historic relationship on many types of projects from brownfields to watershed protection that transcends several Administrations, Republican and Democratic. (See grant background released by the Rendell Administration.)

Sen. Mellow commented that he thought the Senate would ultimately approve both nominations.

NewsClips: Rendell Agrees to Give Senate More time on Cabinet Votes

Rendell Officials Face Questions About Tax Disputes, Grants

4/27/2007