HARRISBURG (TNS) — A former state lawmaker was forced to resign her position on a commonwealth board after taking a second state government job.
Marguerite Quinn, a Republican who served in the House of Representatives from 2007-18 representing a portion of Bucks County, resigned her position on the three-member Unemployment Compensation Board of Review on Friday.
She served on that board since June 2019. Her resignation came six weeks after she began working as governmental affairs director for the Office of Attorney General.
Quinn’s resignation from the UC board was announced after PennLive had inquired about Quinn’s service in holding down both the $145,018-a-year job in the attorney general’s office and the $69,360 a year position on the UC review board.
Her resignation letter, dated on Monday, states that an internal legal review by the attorney general’s office “determined I should resign her position on the board.”
Requests to speak to Quinn made through the attorney general’s press office on Monday drew no response.
Attorney general spokeswoman Jennifer Crandall said that office has no policy prohibiting its employees from having outside employment but that it must be disclosed and is “reviewed by various entities in our agency.”
“With regard to Marguerite, it was disclosed and reviewed per what needs to happen and upon that review it was determined that she would need to resign from that board,” Crandall said.
Crandall said she could not comment on when Quinn disclosed her service on a commonwealth board or whether serving in both capacities was seen as creating a potential conflict of interest.
The UC board passes judgment on an individual’s entitlement to unemployment compensation benefit and creating or modifying procedural rules governing the jobless benefits program. The attorney general’s governmental affairs director serves as a liaison between the office and other government officials as well as monitors and offers input into legislation that could impact the attorney general’s work.
According to a spokesman for the Department of Labor & Industry, the state’s unemployment compensation law doesn’t explicitly address the issue as to whether UC Board of Review members can work for another state agency.
Interestingly, one of the other two board members, Elena Cross — who served as former Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff and is now working in the private sector as a senior adviser to a government consulting group — had her nomination to serve on the board confirmed by the Senate on Oct. 26. However, she waited until Jan. 18, the day after Gov. Josh Shapiro took office and her job in the Wolf Administration ended, to join the UC board.
Cross reached on Tuesday declined comment on the reasoning behind her decision to delay taking her seat on the board.
UC board Chairman Rick Bloomingdale said Quinn’s service on the board will be missed. He said she regularly attended board meetings and brought good balance to the board.
He said Quinn inquired about any conflict arising from continuing her service on the board after she took the job in the attorney general’s office. Initially, he said it was believed she could hold both positions since her job with the attorney general’s office was outside of the governor’s jurisdiction, under which the UC board operates.
“After their research, they determined it was not ok and they told Marguerite and she said ok and resigned,” Bloomingdale said. “She didn’t try to do anything surreptitiously. She was concerned about the optics and whether it was the right thing to do.”
He said he thought that the research done on the propriety of her holding both positions turned up some ethics or administrative rule that said someone could not collect two state government salaries and that is what led to the determination she must resign from the board.
Shapiro’s spokesman Manuel Bonder offered a statement indicating the governor’s office weighed in on that as well.
Bonder said, “Upon Quinn’s appointment to a position to the Office of Attorney General, the governor’s office conducted a review and it was determined she would resign from her position on the UC Board of Review.”
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