STATE IMPACT / NPR: In July 2011, Governor Corbett took a vacation to Rhode Island that was paid for by a central Pennsylvania businessman with ties to the natural gas drilling industry.
The trip was noted in a November revision to Corbett’s annual statement of financial interests with the State Ethics Commission. It shows that John Moran, Jr. spent $1,422 on air travel and hotel accommodations for the governor and First Lady Susan Corbett for a long weekend in Rhode Island. Moran also paid $901 to fly the governor on his private plane and helicopter to events in Pittsburgh and Williamsport in September 2011.
According to the governor’s press secretary, Kevin Harley, the Rhode Island trip was a personal vacation. He denied that the governor was trying to hide anything and said it was omitted from the original ethics filing due to a clerical error… (more)
What a surprise.