July 17–24, 1997

hit and run

Grant Wisdom

DCED's Community Revitalization Program is Gov. Tom Ridge's answer to the late Legislative Initiative Grants — commonly known as WAMs, for "walking around money." Like WAMs, Community Revitalization Program grants typically go to such warm and fuzzy projects as recreation facilities and volunteer fire departments.

Unlike WAMs, these grants are reviewed at the state level and awarded on a competitive basis. Or so the story goes.

Vitali, a Democrat in Delaware County, found buried in the DCED's own files a computer printout that referred to grants awarded earlier this year to police departments in Lower Providence ($21,250), West Norriton ($21,250) and Collegeville ($7,500). What caught Vitali's attention was a comment printed across the top of the form: "Funds have been secured for the organization(s) listed below. Please have the attached pre-numbered application completed and returned."

Vitali takes this to mean the grants were approved before these police departments had even applied for them, which would suggest merit has little to do with the process.

A DCED spokesperson, however, says the form proves nothing of the kind.

"It was in our file, but it was not generated by DCED," says Lynn Lawson of the department's press office.

So who does it belong to? Good question. In a column labeled "sponsor," the form mentions "Lawless" — an apparent reference to State Rep. John Lawless, a Montgomery County Republican whose district includes the police departments.

"I don't know whose form it is, and frankly I don't care whose form it is," says Lawless, who's not amused that "media hound" Vitali is using three legitimate grants in Lawless' district to make a point. "I'm proud to be the sponsor [of the three grants]. That's what my job is. If Mr. Vitali can't bring money back to his district, shame on him."

Vitali — who says he doesn't know what applications, if any, from his district have been approved or denied — stresses that he's not attacking Lawless or these particular grants.

"I'm not suggesting that the groups getting them are not worthy," he explains, "nor am I saying the legislators who try to be advocates for their districts are doing anything wrong... The point is, we all should be playing on a level playing field."

The problem, he says, is that DCED officials not only know from whose districts requests come, but use this as a guide in determining who gets money.

In short, he says, legislators who "play ball with the governor" get the grants. Those who don't, don't.

He's not alone in that belief. In May, Auditor General Robert Casey released a blistering report on DCED, charging that the process it uses to award grants is not at all competitive. Casey found that no objective selection criteria exist, and that the process "is based entirely on considerations external to the applications, such as contacts from the Governor's Office, legislators, [or] local officials..."

Casey also reported that from June 1996 to May 1997, 40 grants totaling nearly $7.8 million — a whopping 52 percent of the funds — went to Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh. Philadelphia County, with about 200,000 more residents, ranked a distant second with 10 grants, totaling just over $1.4 million, in the same period.

Vitali says Allegheny County legislators of both parties are known for supporting Ridge's initiatives.

In a response included in Casey's report, DCED wrote: "We realize now that use of the term 'competitive' in our guidelines led some people to believe that each application would be competitively scored, which was never our intention."

Lawson says revised guidelines will be released in this week's Pennsylvania Bulletin, the state government's house organ.

— Frank Lewis