'Breakfastgate' scandal in Montco heats up

"Breakfastgate" is being investigated.

Prosecutors said Friday they would look into whether the state Sunshine Law was violated at twice-a-month breakfast meetings attended by two of Montgomery County's three commissioners.

In a prepared statement, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman announced a criminal probe into the meetings held by Commissioners Chairman James R. Matthews and Vice Chairman Joe Hoeffel. The board's third member, former county district attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr., had called for such an investigation.

"We will follow the evidence wherever it leads," Ferman said in the statement. "The public must have confidence that law enforcement will never turn a blind eye to crime or corruption . . . no matter who is involved and no matter the magnitude of the alleged violation."

The breakfasts drew attention during an otherwise routine Board of Commissioners meeting Wednesday, when a reporter for the Times-Herald newspaper in Norristown publicly accused Matthews and Hoeffel of discussing county business over meals at the Jem Restaurant in East Norriton.

On at least two occasions, the paper later reported, the pair were heard conferring about board appointments, bond issuances, and state funds for road repair - items that later appeared on agendas of the board's public meetings.

Matthews and Hoeffel initially described their table talk as "strictly social" and limited to sports, family, and food. On Thursday, Hoeffel went further, saying he and Matthews had received briefings from county staff during the breakfasts but never discussed what they were told until the next public meeting.

Hoeffel said the breakfasts were a way for him and Matthews to get acquainted and to strategize politically. Hoeffel, a Democrat, and Matthews, a Republican, formed a power-sharing alliance before taking office in 2008, edging Castor out of the chairman's post.

Castor scoffed Friday at their explanations, saying, "I have a lot of good friends . . . but there's no one I want to see every [other] week. You run out of things to talk about if you're not talking business."

Matthews said he welcomed the investigation and hoped it might put the matter to rest. He also vowed to keep eating with Hoeffel.

"I'm not going to stop having these breakfasts," he said. "We may start handing out agendas with the menus for anyone who wants to stop by."