By law, Rendell releases his letters

HARRISBURG - Newly disclosed correspondence between Gov. Rendell and lobbyists from last year shows he received particular pressure regarding a property-assessment bill he eventually vetoed and a stalled proposal to extend health coverage to more of the uninsured.

Rendell released 306 pages of correspondence from 2008 in response to a request from the Associated Press under the state's revised Right-to-Know Law, which took effect in January.

The correspondence covers a vast range of public-policy issues, from teacher qualifications and prison-reform bills to the expiration of electricity rate caps and even cocoa-import issues at Philadelphia's port.

Among the more contentious matters was a bill that would have limited the ability of municipalities and school districts to appeal for an increase in a property's assessed value if the sales price shows its market value is considerably higher.

About two dozen letters dealt with health-care issues, including a program that has helped doctors pay malpractice-insurance premiums and Rendell's efforts to expand health coverage.

The Democratic governor also received invitations to dozens of events, several thank-you messages, and some flattery.

Tim Reeves, who served as Republican Gov. Tom Ridge's press secretary, wrote in June to remark that Rendell had a "very nice fund-raiser touch" and to mention that his public-relations firm, the Neiman Group, was "working with your team on a number of important matters - Major League Soccer, [the] turnpike lease and some percolating Hershey matters."

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the decision to release the documents showed Rendell's commitment to governmental transparency.

"I think what these demonstrate are not only the demands on his time, but more clearly demands on his attention," Ardo said.

Nearly all of the correspondence was incoming, but they also included a December letter from Rendell to former Gov. Mark Schweiker, president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, asking for a donation to a public-relations campaign regarding a new state law imposing a 20-year mandatory sentence for assaulting a police officer.

The chamber's $15,000 contribution was announced the next month.

Some documents, including communication with the state's lobbyist on federal matters, were withheld under the law's "predecisional deliberations" exception.

A similar request by the AP to the four legislative floor leaders for their 2008 lobbyist correspondence was rejected in February on grounds that the law applies more narrowly to the General Assembly.