Yet again, political violence is demanding attention.
In 2025, an arsonist scaled a fence, slipped past security and set fire to the governor’s residence in Harrisburg while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside during Passover. The attack forced them to flee and left the home badly damaged.
In the aftermath, the family moved to their private residence, where state police recommended roughly $1 million in security upgrades. Those upgrades were completed. The bills were submitted.
And last week, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity refused to approve the payments, saying the law does not allow taxpayer dollars to be used for improvements to private property.
As treasurer, it is her duty to address the bills. Garrity is doing her job — watching the state’s nickels and dimes. A treasurer is accountable to the money, not the motive.
But when Shapiro is running for reelection as a Democrat and Garrity is running to oppose him as a Republican, it naturally sets up the situation as a political grudge match.
That may happen around a bill being introduced or a budget standoff. It is expected over the kind of wars of words that have become so common in a world of sound bites and social media.
There are two ways to respond to political violence: Feed it or starve it.
Allowing this to become a tug-of-war feeds the enmity. It does not solve the problem.
We know this because three Republicans and two Democrats who have held the office are standing together on this issue. It’s something the five men rarely do.
Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker, Ed Rendell, Tom Corbett and Tom Wolf do, however, agree as former governors that this is not a place for politics.
“Combating political violence and keeping our elected officials safe should always be nonpartisan and a priority,” they said in a joint statement.
It is not just a message from those who have occupied the governor’s residence. It is a message for anyone who may one day call it home.
The governor — any governor — must be kept safe. So must that governor’s family. Without that security, we live in a Pennsylvania where we are not governed by laws but by the ability to hold our leaders hostage in a landscape of fear.
But that cannot be a blank check and a license to work outside the rules. Garrity is correct in pointing out where the process may have “ignored the statutory limits and restrictions on spending and procurement.” If she has reservations, they should be voiced and addressed.
But that should not be the end of the conversation.
This is an opportunity to starve political violence by not giving it a heaping helping of partisanship. Garrity says this is not political, and the best way to show that is to work with the Treasury Department on a solution instead of just saying no.
The answer isn’t choosing between safety and the law. It’s proving government can uphold both at the same time.
