SUNBURY — During a heated 30-minute exchange Tuesday, Northumberland County Commissioner Vinny Clausi continued pressing President Judge Robert Sacavage to reveal items redacted on court system credit-card statements until the judge took a page from Clausi’s playbook.
Late in the argument, Sacavage told Clausi that his election expense reports were missing from the county elections board.
“Mine are missing?” Clausi gasped. “Who stole my records? I want an investigation. I’m asking the board to investigate.”
Said Commissioner Kurt Masser: “I don’t want to spend taxpayer dollars on an investigation.”
Clausi is required by law to keep a set of records for himself, Sacavage said.
“You want my records? You’ll have to subpoena them,” Clausi said.
While Sacavage complied June 12 in providing to commissioners the court system’s credit-card statements that Clausi sought, the judge defended his decision not to provide the credit-card receipts without redacting names and locations, saying it was a matter of security for court employees, some of whom work undercover.
The judge told Clausi that he had complied with his request for the information, but he would not provide any more information.
The two sparred verbally at a salary board meeting held before the commissioners meeting, even involving the other commissioners, Frank Sawicki and Masser, as well as county solicitor Hugh Jones.
Clausi insisted the records are public information because they are paid through taxes, while Sacavage said the credit expenses are paid from court funds and not by taxes.
The judge brandished copies of a recent audit of the adult probation and parole department that found the system 98 percent compliant with state standards for reporting use of funds.
Clausi said the records belong to the residents of Northumberland County, and Masser said while he would like to see the details, he did “not want to have an adversarial relationship with the county court system.”
Said Sawicki: “I don’t want to see the records. There needs to be a veil of privacy over these officers.”
Later in the meeting, Clausi said the state has not been paying its portion of District Attorney Anthony Rosini’s $160,000 annual salary.
“We can’t afford to keep paying it,” he said. “What can we do to recoup the money?”
Masser said he had spoken with state Attorney General Tom Corbett Tuesday morning, and Corbett suggested the commissioners send letters to state Reps. Merle Phillips, R-108, of RD2, and Robert E. Belfanti Jr., D-107, of Mount Carmel, and Sen. John Gordner, R-27, Berwick.
“This is not a fight between the commissioners and Tony Rosini,” Masser said.
“The state wants our money and we want their money,” Clausi said, suggesting that funds owed the state from the prothonotary and district judges be withheld to pay Rosini’s wages.
“I want to do this, too,” Sawicki said, “but I want to do it legally.”
“If I were a betting man, it’s not legal to keep the state money,” Masser said.
The commissioners agreed to write to Phillips, Belfanti and Gordner asking for their help in solving the problem.
Clausi then made a motion to appeal the state court ruling on Act 509, which governs the use of funds by county probation and parole departments. Masser seconded the motion, and Clausi asked for a roll call vote. He and Masser voted affirmative, while Sawicki voted no.
-- E-mail comments to wlaepple@dailyitem.com
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