Mike Vereb, top ally and cabinet secretary to Gov. Josh Shapiro, abruptly resigns

HARRISBURG — Mike Vereb, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s top liaison to the General Assembly, resigned abruptly Wednesday, less than a year after the governor appointed him to the position.

A news release issued by Shapiro’s office offered no explanation for the departure and the governor’s office declined to answer questions later Wednesday about Vereb’s decision step down from his position as secretary as legislative affairs.

Vereb, a former Republican state lawmaker from Montgomery County and one of Shapiro’s closest allies in Harrisburg, did not return calls for comment. The news release announcing his resignation lauded Vereb’s “decades serving our Commonwealth” but did not include any direct statements from the governor.

“Mike has been a key member of our team and thanks to his dedicated service, the Governor’s Office is prepared for the work ahead,” Dana Fritz, Shapiro’s chief of staff said in the release.

It announced that Thomas “T.J.” Yablonski Jr., a veteran of the administration of former Gov. Tom Wolf who currently serves as a senior adviser to Shapiro, would take over Vereb’s role in the governor’s cabinet next week.

But Vereb’s sudden resignation — only months into Shapiro’s first term and shortly after he played a significant role in building bipartisan support for the governor’s first budget — surprised many around the state Capitol.

The relationship between Vereb, a Republican, and Shapiro, a Democrat, both of whom hail from Montgomery County, dates back decades. They served together in the state House from 2007 to 2012, with Vereb representing a West Norriton Township-based district and Shapiro representing Abington.

When Shapiro was elected attorney general in 2016, he named Vereb as director of government affairs for his office — one of the first appointments in the job. In the statement Wednesday, Fritz credited Vereb with securing funding for law enforcement and enhancing school safety in that role.

During his stint in the governor’s cabinet, she said, he helped secure passage of laws to expand breast cancer screenings and expand the state property tax and rent rebate programs as well as Shapiro’s first budget.