Josh Shapiro and family’s safety should be ‘nonpartisan and a priority,’ former Pa. governors say after Stacy Garrity blocks money

Days after Republican Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity declined to pay for more than $1 million in security upgrades for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Montgomery County residence, a bipartisan group of former Pennsylvania governors are saying the Shapiro family’s safety should not be a partisan issue.

All living former Pennsylvania governors — Democrats Tom Wolf and Ed Rendell and Republicans Tom Corbett, Mark Schweiker, and Tom Ridge — released an official statement through the governor’s office Monday calling on state leaders and lawmakers to prioritize the safety of Shapiro and his family, who have been the target of political violence when a man set fire to the governor’s mansion last year during Passover.

“Combatting political violence and keeping our elected officials safe should always be nonpartisan and a priority,” the governors said. “For us, the attack on Pennsylvania’s First Family was particularly upsetting. In the aftermath of that attack we ask the state’s current leaders and legislators to make the safety and security of the Governor and his family a priority.”

The statement, which does not name Garrity specifically, comes after the state treasurer said she does not have the legal authority to pay for security upgrades to personal residences.

Garrity is running unopposed in the Republican primary to challenge Shapiro this fall. Notably, Corbett, who signed onto Monday’s statement, endorsed Garrity’s campaign for governor in September.

It also follows another incident of political violence this past weekend when an alleged shooter was taken into custody after trying to breach the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday, which President Donald Trump was attending.

Defendant Cole Tomas Allen was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate the president among other offenses.

In a statement through the Treasury Department, Garrity told The Inquirer that she agrees with the former governors in rejecting all forms of political violence. She called the arson attack against Shapiro and his family “deeply disturbing, just as the recent assassination attempt on the president is unacceptable.”

But she said that paying the bill for the security upgrades at the private Shapiro residence — which were implemented last year and include new a security system and other exterior improvements — would “conflict with responsibilities defined in the state constitution.”

Garrity also contended that she doesn’t believe the governors’ comments are about her or this legal requirement.

“I do however believe that they are suggesting that politics should never play a role in decisions of security for the Governor or any elected official and on that we all agree,” Garrity said. “In that same narrative, we can take threats seriously and support security without disregarding the legal boundaries that govern how public funds are spent.”

Shapiro’s team has criticized Garrity’s rejection of paying for the security upgrades. Spokesperson Rosie Lapowsky last week said it’s “a completely unprecedented and shameful political action without legal basis,” Spotlight PA reported.

“The Treasurer should put partisanship aside, follow the law, and show some humanity for a family that has experienced real trauma, the state troopers who protect them every day, and the vendors and workers who the treasurer has now refused to pay,” Lapowsky wrote.

Shapiro has frequently spoken out against political violence on both sides of the aisle.

After the incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner both he and Garrity separately thanked law enforcement and the U.S. Secret Service for their quick response to the incident and decried politically-based violence.

After the arson attack at the governor’s mansion, which took place while the first family slept and hours after they celebrated Passover, an independent safety review recommended $33 million in security upgrades to the governor’s mansion, as well as Shapiro’s home in Abington Township — which sparked litigation from the governor’s neighbors.

Earlier this month, The Inquirer reported that the governor’s mansion is now surrounded by a towering brick wall and, installed throughout the property, are motion detectors, improved lighting, and upgraded cameras.

Shapiro’s security detail has also been bolstered and the windows at his official residence are in the process of being fashioned with bulletproof glass.