Lt. Gov. Mike Stack speaking last year.
Credit: PA Internet News Service
Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor and the second lady are under investigation by the Inspector General’s Office for their alleged mistreatment of staff and their security detail.
The Caucus, a niche print paper serving state government, first reported Lt. Gov. Mike Stack and his wife Tonya would allegedly mistreat their Pennsylvania State Police security detail and domestic staff at the lieutenant governor’s mansion on the grounds of Fort Indiantown Gap.
The newspaper, which is published by the LNP Media Group, reported that Stack and his wife had ordered troopers on their security detail to activate emergency red and blue lighting and sirens to clear roads during non-emergency trips. State police policy prohibits use of emergency lighting if there is not an urgent matter.
The Caucus wrote that the Stacks would “heap verbal abuse” on state employees who did not follow their orders.
The staff at the mansion, according to the report, were asked if the lieutenant governor or his wife requested them to purchase alcohol for events at the mansion.
“I’ve said things in anger and frustration that I wish I hadn’t said,” Stack told WGAL-TV Wednesday. He added that he and his wife would try to “do better.”
Pennsylvania is the only state that provides its lieutenant governor a taxpayer-funded mansion. Similarly to other states and previous administrations, the lieutenant governor and his wife receive a state police security detail to handle their personal protective needs. Previous Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley’s wife dropped her security detail after she started spending more and more time out of the state for work.
Gov. Tom Wolf ordered the investigation into his lieutenant governor.
Stack and Wolf are expected to run together to keep their seats in next year’s election.
