Pa. lawmaker’s new job raises questions of ethics

State Rep. Seth Grove is raising alarms about working for a trade organization while setting laws for that industry.

Questions about whether or not a lawmaker should be allowed to work for an industry that they are in charge of regulating have arisen over the past couple of weeks. 

It was recently reported in Access Harrisburg, a newsletter published by Spotlight Pa., that State Rep. Seth Grove (R-York) recently started working as the President and Chief Executive Officer for the Pennsylvania Aggregate and Concrete Association (PACA) at the same time he serves as the minority chair of the Pennsylvania House Labor and Industry Committee. 

PACA is a trade organization that represents over 200 members in the crushed stone, concrete, sand and gravel, and cement industries. Grove, who is stepping down at the end of this year, would essentially vote on issues potentially impacting PACA’s bottom lines. 

“ First and foremost is that we get paid full time to do this job. So having such an obvious second job, I think detracts from the 62,000 people that elected him to be their voice in Harrisburg,” State Rep. Emily Kinkead (D-Allegheny) said in an interview. 

“The fact that it’s a lobbying job, whether or not he is actually lobbying at the state level, I think doesn’t really matter. He is specifically and explicitly pushing for the agenda of a certain industry and certain stakeholders that have an interest in Pennsylvania in the Labor Committee.”

Pennsylvania’s lawmakers are allowed to have a second job, but Grove’s new gig leading a trade organization raises an ethical conundrum.  

One of PACA’s board members includes an owner from Glenn O. Hawbaker, who was hit with the country’s largest prevailing wage theft lawsuit in 2021 after it was caught stealing $20 million in prevailing wage benefits from their employees. 

Davina Hurt, the director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, explained in an interview with The Keystone how these types of dealings erode public trust. 

“Pennsylvania workers deserve labor policy made for them, not shaped by the paid leadership of the industries being regulated even when it’s technically legal.” Hurt said in an interview. 

However, he claims he states that he’s not working as a lobbyist. 

“NO LOBBYING – I CAN’T STRESS THIS ENOUGH BECAUSE PEOPLE THINK I AM GOING TO BE A LOBBYIST,” Grove told Access Harrisburg. “I don’t want to be a lobbyist. I don’t want to lobby. This job doesn’t lobby.”

Kinkead, at the very least, believes that Grove should be removed from the committee because of the conflicts of interest he’ll be overlooking, or that he should flat out resign from the legislature to move into his new position. 

Grove would be voting on issues such as workers compensation, prevailing wages, unemployment, wage theft and other issues that come before the committee.

“ I think that Representative Grove should consider resigning because if he wants to go and be a lobbyist, then he should just go do that,” Kinkead said. “Just the appearance of being beholden to their interests above the interests of the people that he represents in his district and the people of Pennsylvania is incredibly problematic.”

Grove’s dual roles ultimately imply a conflict of interest.

Hurt added, “Imagine when the paid CEO of a trade association representing more than 200 companies sits on the House Labor & Industry Committee that sets prevailing wage, workers’ comp, and workplace safety policy, their early access to bills, agendas, and amendments creates indirect but real advantages for their members. Ethics rules are meant to preserve trust, not just prevent crimes, and this situation raises serious questions about whether the system is doing just that.”

The Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus and Grove’s office declined to provide comment for this story.