Northern Blair County residents were shocked in late September when a Letter to the Editor graced the pages of The Daily Herald noting that a staff member of Ninth District Congressman Bill Shuster was spying on a Tipton candidate.
\nWeeks later, Joshua Juda, a part-timer on Shuster\u2019s staff, came forward stating he was directed by the congressman and Shuster\u2019s chief of staff to spy on Michael DelGrosso on more than one occasion.
\n\u201cThere are certain levels of intimidation when you work for a U.S. Congressman,\u201d said Juda during an interview with The Daily Herald. \u201cThey asked me to do things that I didn\u2019t feel comfortable with and I felt, given the nature of my involvement, that I should come forward and clarify the record as to what happened.\u201d
\nDays after Juda\u2019s public statements, Shuster held a press conference and explained that Juda was an employee of his; however, if Juda did \u201cspy\u201d on DelGrosso, it was on Juda\u2019s own time and in no way was directed by him or any on his staff.
\n\u201cThe statement released by Joshua Juda on Nov. 4, as well as those he has made to the media, are simply not accurate or correct,\u201d said Shuster.
\nShuster said he believes Juda overheard a conversation questioning if DelGrosso actually lived in the Ninth District, then took it upon himself to investigate for himself.
\n\u201cI regret that he took this initiative,\u201d said Shuster.
\nThe first public sings of the alleged unethical practices occurred in mid-September when neighbors of DelGrosso noticed a suspicious man in a red Volkswagen Jetta parked in their neighborhood. The residents feared for their safety.
\nShuster admitted the person in the Jetta (Juda) was an employee of his, but denied giving the man any orders to conduct any spying tactics.
\nJuda claims he was the operator of the red Jetta, and said he was directed by Shuster to travel to DelGrosso\u2019s neighborhood and report back on his daily duties.
\n\u201cIt was Alex (Mistri, Shuster\u2019s chief of staff) who told me to go down and watch his house,\u201d said Juda. \u201cHe told me that they thought he wasn\u2019t living there. I thought okay, he\u2019s the boss.\u201d
\nHowever, the incident did raise some suspicions with Juda.
\nThree months earlier, on June 6, Juda said he was directed by Congressman Shuster to monitor a DelGrosso fundraiser at DelGrosso Amusement Park in Tipton. He said he was asked to find out who attended the event and report back to the Shuster Camp.
\n\u201cI really didn\u2019t think much of it,\u201d said Juda. \u201cAn order came directly from the Congressman and I felt that he\u2019s involved in government, he\u2019s a U.S. Congressman, and he would know what was ethical and what you can do and what you can\u2019t in a political office. They just wanted me to go down there and find out what was happening.\u201d
\nAccording to Juda, the congressman and his staff again approached him about \u201cspying\u201d on DelGrosso on Sept. 12. Juda said they wanted him to go to DelGrosso\u2019s neighborhood and report back on his daily activities.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s when I kind of thought to myself that there was an odd pattern developing here,\u201d said Juda. \u201cWhy do they keep asking me to do this? When they asked me to do these things, they would always say \u2018don\u2019t tell anyone about it\u2019 or \u2018If anyone sees you, don\u2019t mention anything\u2019.
\n\u201cThey just kept saying things like that, and I thought that was kind of odd. I only worked part-time there and I am by no means familiar with election campaign regulations.\u201d
\nJuda said after the Sept. 12 incident is when he realized that it was something he didn\u2019t want to be a part of.
\n\u201cWhen the media got a hold of the story, both Alex and the Congressman, sent me note saying not to talk about it and not to call anyone about it from the phone lines in the office because of Caller ID,\u201d he said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t even want me to mention it in my own office. The Congressman even suggested, the day before I gave my letter of resignation, for me to travel to Harrisburg and get a new vanity plate so people in the community and in DelGrosso\u2019s camp would not recognize my vehicle.\u201d
\nJuda said each of the three requests of unethical practices were made by both Congressman Shuster and Mistri.
\n\u201cIf this is true, then the implications are very serious,\u201d said DelGrosso. \u201cIt is a direct violation of House ethics rules and it could have serious legal consequences. Mr. Shuster and his staff have some serious explaining to do. Congressional staffers – people on the public payroll – should not be engaged in political activities like surveillance.\u201d
\nShuster, during his press conference, told reporters that after questioning members of his staff, including his Chief of Staff Alex Mistri, he was satisfied that no member of his staff ordered or directed Juda to undertake any of the activities indicated in his statement.
\n\u201cAt no time did I ever order, direct or ask Joshua to attend any fundraiser for Michael DelGrosso or to monitor Mr. DelGrosso,\u201d said Shuster. \u201cAfter these events became public, I never had a conversation with Joshua where he was asked to lie or to avoid talking to members of law enforcement. Any statement to the contrary is wrong.\u201d
\nShuster said the conversations he did have with Juda focused around his concern about Juda\u2019s actions and to urge him to avoid engaging in these types of activities in the future. He said he was also concerned about Juda\u2019s state of well-being and later told him the \u201cdamage was done\u201d and \u201cthere was no use dwelling on the past as long as something like this would never happen again.\u201d
\n\u201cI was willing, and still am willing, to forgive Joshua for his mistakes,\u201d said Shuster. \u201cHe had been with me as a campaign aide since I was first elected to Congress, and I came to appreciate his loyalty, hard work and friendship.\u201d
\nIn a letter e-mailed to The Daily Herald, Juda writes: \u201cAt each occasion, it was my understanding that I was functioning in my capacity as a congressional staff member for which I was being paid through the Congressional payroll. I was not employed by any other outside organization or internal division of Congressman Shuster\u2019s office. I never functioned as a volunteer for the 2004 Shuster Campaign. I was never therefore reprimanded or discouraged from such activity. I was never asked to serve in anyway without pay or as a volunteer outside of my part-time capacity and it was my understanding that all of my activities were covered within my allotted 25 hours per week.\u201d
\nShuster said that although he \u201ccategorically disputes\u201d the allegations that Juda has made, he takes full responsibility for the actions of those working on his behalf, whether they are from his Congressional office or his campaign team.
\n\u201cOur manual for staff members clearly states that no political activity is to take place on government time,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is a policy that we have tried to enforce emphatically.\u201d
\nShuster said the activities and actions of DelGrosso are not secret and have naturally been a topic of discussion amongst his staff. He said this would happen in any congressional office.
\n\u201cThe folks in Pennsylvania\u2019s Ninth Congressional District have elected me to be their representative for Congress,\u201d Shuster said. \u201cThat is a privilege that I value to the highest degree. The voters expect me to devote my attention to the issues that concern them, not the petty politics of a primary election campaign. That is what I have been doing and will continue to do.\u201d
\nSpeculation has come up concerning a probe into the Shuster\u2019s alleged ethnic violations; however, there isn\u2019t any solid evidence of it.
\nDuring a recent conference call, the question was raised by a reporter and Shuster simply stated that \u201call the paperwork is turned in\u201d and \u201cit\u2019s in their hands now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Northern Blair County residents were shocked in late September when a Letter to the Editor graced the pages of The Daily Herald noting that a staff member of Ninth District Congressman Bill Shuster was spying on a Tipton candidate. Weeks later, Joshua Juda, a part-timer on Shuster\u2019s staff, came forward stating he was directed by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-in-the-tyrone-pennsylvania-area"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}