February 23, 2002

Edition: FIRST
Section: LOCAL
Page: B1

Topics:

Index Terms:
LOCAL
STATE
GOVERNMENT
DEMOCRAT
EMPLOYEE
POLITICS
CANDIDATE

State Senate staffer found politicking on work time ** Democrat's recruitment effort from Capitol prompts
party to remind workers of rules. GOP head calls incident "outrageous.'

Author: Chuck Ayers and Mario F. Cattabiani Of The Morning Call

Article Text:

Pennsylvania Senate Democrats will rewrite their employee handbook because a staff member was discovered doing
political work on the job, using an office phone to solicit candidates to run against Republican state Sen. Charlie Dent.

Hoping to find a good candidate to challenge the incumbent, Democrats in Harrisburg reached out to Lehigh Valley
officials for suggestions earlier this month.

But the recruitment effort was mishandled in what Republicans are calling a misuse of state resources.

A Senate Democratic aide mistakenly called a Republican township supervisor for his ideas on potential candidates.
And he did so using a state phone on state time.

Weisenberg Supervisor Robert Milot, a Republican, found a midday message on his answering machine Feb. 5 from
a caller who identified himself as "Eric" from the state Senate Democratic Campaign Committee. The caller said the
party was canvassing local elected officials for someone to take on Dent, of Allentown.

The caller gave a phone number for Room G-15 in the North Office Building in the Capitol complex. The phone with
that number is on a desk in a ground-level cubicle used by Senate Democratic staffer Eric Battisti.

In an interview in his office, Battisti said he knew nothing about the phone call and was at a loss to explain it.

"I make a ton of phone calls," he said.

Battisti acknowledged that he has volunteered his time to Senate Democratic campaign efforts.

"We are encouraged to," he said.

Asked if he's ever used the state-owned phone to make campaign-related calls, Battisti said, "Nothing jumps out at
me." Pressed further, he said, "No. Never."

No one else uses the phone, and there is no one else named Eric in the small office.

Later, through an aide to state Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, Battisti said that although he doesn't remember
making the call, he couldn't rule it out completely.

Mellow, D-Lackawanna, called the incident "a mistake" that "won't be happening again." He said he thought all
Senate Democratic staffers knew they're not supposed to use state time and equipment for campaign work.
"If you want to work on campaigns, you have to do it on your own time with your own phones," added Mellow, the
Senate's top Democrat.

In light of the call, Mellow said he sent a memo to all staffers Thursday reminding them not to mix campaign work with
state business. What's more, the caucus's employee handbook will soon be rewritten to include that prohibition.
Previously, it was never put in writing.

Chad Saylor, executive director of the Republican State Committee, called the use of government resources for
political purposes "outrageous."

Saylor speculated it's unlikely that Battisti, a low-level aide, took it on himself to canvass for candidates and insisted
he must be working on Mellow's orders.

Mellow "either has no control over his staff or he has no respect for the taxpayers," Saylor said. "It's got to be one or
the other."

Battisti, 31, worked in Harrisburg as an aide for state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton, until six months ago, when
he took a job with the Democratic Caucus' new outreach office that deals with constituent issues.

Mellow said he has spoken with Battisti about candidate-recruiting efforts but never condoned the use of state
phones for that purpose.

South Whitehall Township lawyer Richard Orloski announced Tuesday that he's running for the Democratic
nomination in the 16th District, held by Dent since 1999.

Dent, whose district includes Allentown and parts of northwestern Northampton County and southern Monroe County,
said he was flattered that Democrats were paying so much attention to his seat.

Copyright (c) 2002, The Morning Call, Inc.