Former Dauphin Co. Commissioner received $10,000 from companies involved in unfolding scandal

Former Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste received $10,000 in campaign contributions from PrimeCare Medical and Herbert, Rowland & Grubic after leaving office in 2021. Haste’s connections to the two companies have been called into question following an unfolding corruption scandal. 

Campaign finance records show that former Republican Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste continued taking campaign contributions from companies that he had financial ties to after leaving office in 2021. 

Haste, who is believed to be at the center of an ongoing FBI investigation, received two $5,000 contributions in 2023 totaling $10,000 from PrimeCare Medical, the health care provider for Dauphin County’s jail, and Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, Dauphin County’s long-time engineering firm and Haste’s former employer. 

Haste’s relationship with the two companies have been called into question following a series of damaging stories from Pennlive. 

Pennlive initially reported in August that Haste became the subject of an investigation after they reported that the former county commissioner approved millions of dollars for Visit Hershey & Harrisburg, which serves as Dauphin County’s tourism agency, without disclosing the fact that his wife was a paid consultant for the organization. 

Haste was then stripped of three powerful Dauphin County board positions after Pennlive reported in November that Haste received $325,000 in undisclosed payments from PrimeCare Medical in 2017. 

“When a public official takes $325,000 from special interests while supposedly serving the hardworking people of Dauphin County, it’s a blatant betrayal,” Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas said during a meeting. “Every decision made under this cloud of corruption must be investigated to reveal if the people were exploited.”

According to Pennlive, Haste failed to report the payments on financial disclosure forms or recuse himself from votes as chair of Dauphin County’s prison.  

The boards that Haste was removed from include the Dauphin County Board of Assessment and Appeals, Dauphin County’s Redevelopment Authority and Land Banks and the Harrisburg Area Transportation Study.

Then Pennlive reported in October that Haste reported played a role in influencing the bidding process for Dauphin County’s five-year, $2.3 million bridge inspection contract, which was awarded to Herbert, Rowland & Grubic.

Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo recommended that Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry open a probe into the PrimeCare Medical payments that were made to Haste. 

The Attorney General’s office is aware of Chardo’s referral, but according to Pennlive, it remains unclear if Henry will look into the matter with weeks remaining in her term.