Shapiro administration withheld rows of metadata on Vereb scandal, unlike in similar case

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office withheld rows of metadata in response to a document request from this organization — a striking departure from how it handled a similar request by another reporter well over a year earlier. The inconsistency again suggests that the administration may be selectively applying transparency rules when it comes to scrutiny of the Mike Vereb scandal.

The finding comes just weeks after Broad + Liberty reported that the Shapiro administration deleted the email account of the young woman deputy who accused Mike Vereb of workplace sexual harassment — while preserving the accounts of other former staffers. Together, the reports raise new questions about whether the administration is selectively withholding or deleting records tied to the scandal.

The background starts in February 2023, as Shapiro, fresh off his electoral win, was starting to assemble his government. A young woman in her early thirties accepted a job as a deputy secretary in the governor’s Office of Legislative Affairs. That office was headed up by Shapiro’s long-serving aide, Mike Vereb, a Montgomery County Republican who served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives at the same time as Shapiro.

The young woman abruptly quit five weeks into her job in March 2023, accusing Vereb of workplace harassment. Although Shapiro claims to have only found out about the accusations months later in July or August, Vereb managed to remain in his post until late September that year.

Broad + Liberty has since filed a number of Right to Know Law requests on the matter, and in a court hearing earlier this year, an attorney for the governor disclosed that emails for the young woman could not be produced because her email account had been deleted.

In this newest instance, Broad + Liberty requested all email metadata for Vereb for the month in which the deputy quit, March 2023. Metadata would include information about all sent and received emails like sender, recipient, date, time, and if the email contained any attachments.

Because of a previous Right to Know request, this outlet was already aware of two emails that had been sent to Vereb on March 8, 2023 — believed to be the day after the woman quit. The governor’s office withheld those emails because of the “predecisional deliberations” privilege.

Under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, the “predecisional deliberations” privilege allows the government to withhold internal discussions that occur before an agency reaches a final decision, shielding candid advice, recommendations, or opinions used in the decision-making process. The intent is to encourage open and frank internal dialogue without fear of public disclosure that could chill honest deliberation.

Subsequently, when Broad + Liberty received the first chunk of metadata from the governor’s office in response to the later request, it was notable that the two emails described in the above log were not in the metadata.

“[T]he Office withheld or redacted records or portions of records that are exempt from access under the RTKL. Where email ‘metadata’ is exempt, it has similarly been redacted or withheld from access,” the governor’s spokesman, Manuel Bonder said at the time. “The entries that you reference are exempt from access under the RTKL.”

Essentially, Bonder is saying the metadata for those emails weren’t just completely redacted in the set, the entire rows were removed.

This practice of deleting entire rows of data rather than redacting them stands in sharp contrast to a records request from Spotlight PA reporter Stephen Caruso.

In August 2023, Caruso requested all metadata for a single month for the governor’s chief of staff.

In the appeal that followed, the Office of Open Records noted that the metadata log contained in excess of 5,000 entries. The subject line for 255 of those might “reveal privileged communications,” and “four additional subject lines that reflect internal, predecisional deliberations of various topics, and three subject lines that relate to a noncriminal investigation.” 

Yet for all of that privileged information identified — privilege being the same exemption the office applied to the Broad + Liberty request — it seems clear from the OOR final determination on Caruso’s request that the office only applied redactions. Nothing in the final determination would appear to indicate that the office deleted entire rows of data.

The governor’s office sidestepped pointed questions on this matter. 

“We understand that you appealed the Office of the Governor’s response in this matter to the Office of Open Records,” Bonder said in an email. “As it did in the Caruso matter that you reference, the Office will be providing evidence and argument in support of its position to the OOR.”

Metadata can play a crucial role in bolstering or undermining a government’s alibi in the midst of scandal. It helps verify whether records were improperly deleted or if timelines presented by officials match internal communications. Without it, journalists and the public are left in the dark.

Meanwhile, the governor’s office still refuses to answer the key question: When, exactly, was the email account for the aide deleted? 

When this outlet broke the initial story in March that the deputy’s email account had been deleted, possibly in violation of document retention requirements, Shapiro bristled when asked about the issue at a press conference.

Broad + Liberty still has two Right to Know issues pending before Commonwealth Court. In one of those matters, Broad + Liberty petitioned the court for sanctions given that this outlet devoted substantial resources to litigate emails for an account that was deleted.

In the second of those cases, this outlet won an important ruling from Commonwealth Court Judge Michael Wojcik, dealing with whether an agency may refuse to search for and produce emails for an official based primarily on how high that person ranks in the government.

“The Governor and other individuals in the Office cannot avoid a RTK Law request simply because they are high-ranking officials who transact large amounts of business on behalf of the citizens of the Commonwealth,” Wojcik ruled. “Simply stated, the Governor and the employees in the Office stand in the same shoes as any other government official who is the subject of a RTK Law request.”

Under Pennsylvania law, specifically 18 Pa.C.S. § 4911, it is a criminal offense to knowingly conceal or destroy public records.

Todd Shepherd is Broad + Liberty’s chief investigative reporter. Send him tips at tshepherd@broadandliberty.com, or use his encrypted email at shepherdreports@protonmail.com. @shepherdreports