HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Gov.-elect Ed Rendell announced Sunday that he will nominate men from western Pennsylvania to head four state departments directly involved with the state\u2019s economy.
\nThe former Philadelphia mayor announced the nominations, all of which are subject to confirmation by the state Senate, at a news conference in Pittsburgh. The nominees are:
\n\u2014 Dennis Yablonsky, 50, a Mount Lebanon resident who is chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, picked to become the next secretary of the Department of Community and Economic Development. The annual salary is set by law at $109,756.
\n\u2014 Stephen M. Schmerin, 52, of Gibsonia, a Pittsburgh attorney who specializes in labor law, tapped to become secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry, a job that pays $115,533.
\n\u2014 Gregory Fajt, 48, of Mount Lebanon, a former legislator who represented the South Hills section of Pittsburgh, to be nominated as secretary of the state Revenue Department. The salary is $109,756.
\n\u2014 William Schenck, 59, of Fox Chapel, a former chairman and CEO of Fleet Mortgage, was picked to head the Department of Banking. The salary is $103,980.
\nThe latest announcements helped balance a prospective Cabinet that previously had slightly favored people with ties to Philadelphia, although Rendell\u2019s spokesman said that was a secondary consideration.
\n\u201cWe were far more interested in their expertise than we were in their region,\u201d the spokesman, Ken Snyder, said Sunday. \u201cBut it was important to the governor-elect to have a balanced cabinet\u201d in terms of both geography and gender, he said.
\nOf the 15 nominees for department heads Rendell has announced so far, only four are female, although he has appointed women to several influential posts on the gubernatorial staff.
\nYablonsky has headed the life-science greenhouse, a state-financed effort to spur the development of biotechnology businesses, since 2001 and previously headed the Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, a similar project designed to attracted high-tech businesses to the region.
\nYablonsky \u201chas the right experience to lead my economic-revitalization effort in Pennsylvania,\u201d Rendell said.
\nSchmerin, who has more than 20 years\u2019 experience in contract negotiations, workers\u2019 compensation cases and other labor matters, understands the need to balance the protection of workers\u2019 rights with employers\u2019 need to keep costs as low as possible, the Democratic governor-elect said.
\n\u201cOur objectives, plain and simple, will be to grow the work force and keep people working, work aggressively with employees and employers to resolve disputes and minimize work stoppages,\u201d Rendell said.
\nFajt, a tax lawyer and certified public accountant, would be responsible for collecting the state\u2019s major taxes as revenue secretary. Rendell said Fajt would work to make tax collections more efficient.
\nSchenck is a financial consultant whose career in banking includes 26 years as a senior executive at PNC Corp., formerly Pittsburgh National Bank, and who is active in community affairs.
\n\u201cBill has the respect and know-how to work with bankers from around the commonwealth and country, seek their input, and encourage them to be part of our plan for economic expansion,\u201d Rendell said.
\nRendell, who will be inaugurated Tuesday, flew back to Philadelphia to watch the Eagles take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC title game. As governor, he has said he plans to continue his part-time job as a post-game commentator for the team on the Comcast SportsNet cable network.
\nAt a hotel on the outskirts of Harrisburg, members of the Democratic State Committee gathered Sunday for their first meeting of the year, but little business was transacted amid the twin distractions of the inauguration and the Eagles\u2019 prospects for a trip to the Super Bowl.
\n\u201cThis weekend is more about celebration than work,\u201d state Sen. Allen G. Kukovich, the party\u2019s state chairman, acknowledged to the restless crowd as he worked through the agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Gov.-elect Ed Rendell announced Sunday that he will nominate men from western Pennsylvania to head four state departments directly involved with the state\u2019s economy. The former Philadelphia mayor announced the nominations, all of which are subject to confirmation by the state Senate, at a news conference in Pittsburgh. The nominees are: […]<\/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-47507","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\/47507","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=47507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tyronepa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}