Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, has faced renewed scrutiny over his record, and some of his actions while in office have drawn renewed attention. Here’s what we know about those cases.
Questions about Shapiro’s handling of Ellen Greenberg’s 2011 death
In 2011, Ellen Greenberg, a 27-year-old Philadelphia teacher, was found dead in her her fiancé’s apartmentShe had suffered 20 stab wounds to her body, including to the back of her neck. The medical examiner’s office initially ruled it a homicide, but police publicly disagreed because her apartment door was locked from the inside and her fiancé, who said he broke down the door to get to her, had no defensive wounds. The medical examiner’s office later revised its findings, saying the cause of death was suicide.
Since the girl’s death, Greenberg’s parents have fought to have the case reopened. When one of their attorneys became Philadelphia’s district attorney in 2018, the family asked him to reopen the case. However, citing a conflict of interest, he recused himself and referred the case to the office of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
In February 2022The attorney general’s office announced that it had reviewed the case and once again ruled that the cause of death was suicide. However, in July 2022, Shapiro’s office referred the case The attorney general’s office received a complaint from the Philadelphia district attorney after critics cited unverified allegations that Shapiro had ties to the family of Greenberg’s fiancée. The attorney general’s office said, “While the Attorney General’s Office has no actual conflict in this matter, circumstances beyond our control have created the appearance of a conflict.”
Shapiro’s team previously told the Philadelphia Inquirer that it never addressed or clarified the allegations because it “does not acknowledge baseless accusations.”
In July, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Greenberg’s parents. Their attorney, Joe Podraza, said CBS affiliate WHP-TV They are seeking a ruling on “whether coroners and medical examiners have absolute power, or whether they can be challenged when the evidence shows that they are not only wrong, but seriously wrong.”
The Greenbergs also filed civil lawsuits against members of the medical examiner’s office, the police department and the district attorney’s office.
Shapiro’s office accused of mishandling sexual harassment complaint against assistant
As governor, Shapiro was criticized by the National Women’s Defense League and others for how his office handled a sexual harassment complaint filed against one of his former cabinet members.
A former employee in the governor’s office alleged in a March 2023 complaint that Michael Vereb, who was Shapiro’s chief of legislative affairs, sexually harassed her for months and retaliated against her for speaking out. The woman resigned from her position after reporting the issue, saying the governor’s office failed to address the situation or protect her from retaliation.
By early September 2023, Shapiro’s administration paid woman $295,000 in settlementShapiro’s office announced Vereb’s resignation later that month.
According to the New York Times, both sides signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of the settlement, agreeing not to discuss the case publicly.
In a statement to The New York Times on August 3, Shapiro spokesman Manuel Bonder said the governor “was not aware of the complaint or the investigation until months after the complaint was filed.”
“Governor Shapiro does not tolerate any form of harassment in the workplace or elsewhere,” Bonder said.
Fetterman’s advisers are concerned about Shapiro’s slowness in granting clemency at the Pardon Board
As state attorney general, Shapiro spent six years on Pennsylvania’s Board of Pardons, serving alongside then-Lieutenant Gov. John Fetterman, with whom he was often at odds publicly. A 2019 report by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star found that Shapiro voted to commute 17 sentences, compared to 30 for Fetterman.
According to Politico, Fetterman’s advisers discussed Shapiro’s case for commutation with Vice President Kamala Harris’s team. Shapiro and Fetterman were on opposite sides in a 2019 clemency vote for two prisoners — Lee and Dennis Horton — who had served more than two decades of their life sentences for a robbery and fatal shooting that they both said they did not commit. While in prison, the brothers had good records of behavior, including no reports of misconduct.
In December 2019, the board rejected the Hortons’ clemency request by a vote of two to three: Shapiro voted against granting clemency, while Fetterman voted in favor. A spokesperson for Shapiro told the Philadelphia Inquirer that Shapiro wanted the board to keep the case so he could interview the brothers separately and search for missing information in their files.
When the case was reviewed in 2020, Shapiro voted with the rest of the board to release the brothers. Shapiro’s spokesperson told Politico, “The governor evaluates each pardon case individually and on its merits, and during his tenure as attorney general, he has approved more pardons and commutations than all of his predecessors in the last 25 years combined.”
