State College, Pa. — Penn State University will receive more appropriations money than Governor Tom Corbett originally proposed a few months ago, but the Jerry Sandusky scandal still played a factor in the budget vote.
Some legislators in Harrisburg are still questioning how the Sandusky investigation was handled by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office.
Recently a state house member proposed a legislative investigation into why it took so long to file criminal charges against Sandusky.
Close to 30 other state representatives supported the measure, but it has yet to reach the house floor or even emerge out of committee for a vote.
There have been allegations of political arm twisting and strong lobbying against lawmakers who have raised questions.
Governor Corbett was serving as Attorney General and first headed up the case.
6 News asked Rep. Scott Conklin if the Governor is now putting political pressure on lawmakers to stop new attempts to review that investigation.
“It was always rumors that there have been some folks talked to over this, but I was not in the room when that happened so I do not wish to comment on that”, said Conklin. “It is absolutely strange we have not been able to bring this type of bill to the floor.”
After the budget deal was made, Penn State administrators learned they will received $214 million in state appropriations, the same amount as last year.
The four state-related schools Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln faced a 30 percent cut under the Governor’s original budget proposal.
Penn State President Rodney Erickson said he was pleased that the funding was not cut, but during legislative hearings university leaders were grilled about the handling of the Sandusky scandal.
“There were some lawmakers who had voted initially no to Penn State in some of the committees”, said Conklin. “In the final vote Penn State had less yes votes, many lawmakers are still upset about how this was handled.”
Penn State is receiving the same amount of state aid as it did in 1995 when there were 20,000 less students attending the university.
Governor Corbett recently defended the Attorney General’s investigation saying it took longer to interview more victims and witnesses and they need that added testimony because of Sandusky’s celebrity status.
