A former Congressman Bill Shuster aide, who recently resigned, released information to The Daily Herald and other media sources yesterday, saying that he was on the Congressman’s payroll when he was instructed to spy on challenger Michael DelGrosso in a Tipton neighborhood.
Now, two Pennsylvania professors of politics say if this is true, that there could be an investigation into the breaking of house ethic rules.
Dr. Terry Madonna, professor of politics at Millersville University, regarded as Pennsylvania’s foremost political expert, told The Daily Herald this morning “if this is true, there seems to be a clear ethical lapse. It goes way beyond what is the traditional bounds of campaigning and what they ought to be doing and I’m very surprised. Public officials deserve a reasonable amount of privacy. Tailing them, and following them around is beyond the norm.”
Another local political expert went even further.
“If what the aid says is true, then this is an ethic violation and it should be investigated.” said Jack Barlow, Juniata College professor of politics.
According to ethic rules no paid congressional staff member can work on a campaign while employed by a Congressman.
“That person could take a leave of absence, but can’t be a paid employee while working on a campaign,” added Barlow.
Joshua Juda, the former aide, has admitted that he was paid and that the alleged spying incidents all took place during his twenty five hours a week employment. Juda said in a interview yesterday that he was the operator of the red Volkswagen Jetta seen in DelGrosso’s neighborhood and that he was instructed by Congressmen Shuster and chief of staff Alex Mistri on three separate occasions to spy on the Republican candidate and report back to the incumbents camp.
“I was rather surprised at this incident,” Barlow said. “I think that Shuster has a good staff. I was surprised they would do something so clumsy.”
Barlow admits that there are probably many occasions when paid staff will, for example go, quietly to a website to learn more about a political challenger; however, it is much less common to have a paid staff member go and do the things that Joshua Juda has come forward on.
According to Dr. Madonna, a new classification of political campaigning has been created. Opposition researchers, as they are called, will research everything about a candidate, including marital status, past protection from abuse orders, DUI and even video taping, and the use of cameras. Once all research on the candidate is concluded, a report is prepared and given to the campaign.
“Opposition Researchers is a nice name for spies or private detectives,” added Madonna.
Madonna went on to say that in his 30 years of covering and writing about politics, that he has never seen an incident quite like the one locally.
“I can only compare this in past history to the Gary Hart incident when he was running for president.”
Hart, during that campaign, challenged the media to follow him around using cameras.
Yesterday, Shuster Chief of Staff Alex Mistri denied the allegations in a brief statement: “Politics on government time is prohibited in the office of Congressman Shuster. As chief of staff, I strictly enforce this. There was not one penny of taxpayer money spent on this incident. Anything said to the contrary is false.”
