Battle for Job He Created

HARRISBURG - Controversy has nipped at Erik Arneson's heels over the nearly two decades he served as a spokesman for Senate Republicans.

His first boss, Sen. David "Chip" Brightbill, became majority leader after his predecessor was sent to jail for corruption. Brightbill, of Lebanon County, was ousted in 2006 over an ill-fated legislative pay raise.

And Arneson's last boss, Sen. Dominic Pileggi of Delaware County, was pushed out as majority leader in a coup last fall.

But now Arneson, 44, for years the affable face of Senate Republicans, is at the center of his own high-profile storm.

Late last month, Gov. Wolf fired him as the newly appointed executive director of the Office of Open Records.

Arneson and Senate Republicans sued, challenging Wolf's authority. Moreover, their dispute marked the first pointed clash between the new governor and the opposition party with whom he needs to govern.

The case finally landed in court last week, and Arneson took the stand. But he wasn't embracing the spotlight.

"Please, this is not the biggest controversy," he said in an interview Thursday, noting scandals swirling around Attorney General Kathleen Kane and former Treasurer Rob McCord.

In seeking an injunction from Commonwealth Court, Arneson and Senate Republicans contend that Wolf does not have the authority to remove the open-records director, a job that comes with a six-year term.

Wolf's attorneys argue it is an at-will position, subject to dismissal without cause. The governor also said Arneson's removal had nothing to do with his qualifications, but rather it was about what he called "murky" last-minute appointments by Gov. Tom Corbett.

Both sides clashed in court Wednesday, amid flashes of partisanship and a bit of humor when Arneson testified.

In a scene reminiscent of the game show To Tell the Truth, Arneson's attorney, Matthew Haverstick, asked his job title.

"I am the director of the Office of Open Records," said Arneson.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Kenneth Joel, representing Wolf, jumped up to object, forcing the judge to intervene. "Let's call it purported director," said President Judge Dan Pellegrini.

After meeting with attorneys, Pellegrini announced that the hearing would resume next month before the full court. In the interim, the parties have agreed to allow Nathan Byerly to remain as head of the Open Records Office.

For now, Arneson is out.

It has been an uncomfortable few months for the laid-back Arneson, a Green Bay Packers fan who once dyed his hair forest green for Halloween and spends evenings and weekends writing crime fiction and playing board games.

"Anytime you're in a political environment," he said, "unexpected things are going to happen."

He was rehired for his old job - in Pileggi's office - the morning after Pellegrini announced the temporary agreement.

Arneson, whose father was an Amtrak accountant, spent most of his formative years in Christiana, Lancaster County.

After graduating with a broadcasting degree from Temple University, Arneson worked at a Christian radio station and the Lebanon Daily News before joining Brightbill's staff.

Over the years, he honed a reputation in the Capitol for being a responsive, even-keeled, straight-shooting press secretary, even in difficult situations.

"People don't appreciate how difficult that is with reporters asking uncomfortable questions," said Drew Crompton, chief counsel for Senate Republicans. "He has the ability to work through that with articulate, well-reasoned responses."

In 2008, Arneson played more than a bit role in drafting the overhauled Right-to-Know Law that the open-records officer now enforces: He came up with the idea.

The new law "flipped" the burden in access cases - establishing that records should be made public unless there is a compelling government interest in keeping them secret.

Since 2008 the office, with more than a dozen employees, has handled 11,000 appeals by citizens for information from state and local government.

"Whenever there were battles that OOR waged, where we needed help, Pileggi was on my left, and Erik was on my right," Terry Mutchler, the first open-records officer, said last week.

When her term expired last year, Pileggi and Senate President Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson) appealed to Corbett to reappoint her. Corbett first indicated he was unlikely to appoint anyone. In the waning days of his term, he suddenly picked Arneson.

For both sides, there is a single legal question that must be answered at the hearing March 11: Is the executive director an at-will position or not?

For Arneson and Republicans, if it is at-will, then it is no longer independent. Crompton said there shouldn't be any question about Arneson's independence.

"That's the thing the front office has missed," he said. "Erik is a guy who has the integrity to call proper balls and strikes."

Jeff Sheridan, Wolf's spokesman, dismissed Arneson's appointment as partisan and pointed to his immediate hiring of a former Corbett aide, lawyer Delene Lantz-Johnson.

"After being put into the position of executive director by a Republican governor in a purely political move, Erik, in a purely political move, hired a staffer to that governor," Sheridan said.

Arneson said he was happy where he was in the Senate. And now he finds himself in a war over the office he helped create.

"In my view, it's a six-year term that overlaps gubernatorial terms, and the office can't exist if it's not independent," he said. "I'm going to fight it.