Embattled Pa. House speaker changes locks on room with sensitive House GOP materials

HARRISBURG — The top Republican in the state House escalated his attacks this week on the Democratic speaker he helped elect, after the speaker locked Republicans out of an office suite without warning.

Pennsylvania House Republican Leader Bryan Cutler (R., Lancaster) accused House Speaker Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) of a “significant breach” of security, called for him step down, and asked Gov. Josh Shapiro to investigate the lock change in a series of letters Thursday.

The Department of General Services, a state agency, changed the locks at Rozzi’s direction, Rozzi said.

Cutler’s letters to Gov. Josh Shapiro, Chief Clerk Brooke Wheeler, and Rozzi were sent after his chief of staff, Jake Smeltz, found his office door locked on Wednesday morning.

House Republicans have operated the rooms in question — a suite tucked away on the fourth floor of the Capitol building — since former Rep. Sam Smith’s tenure as speaker from 2011 to 2014, Cutler said. Its small conference room is sometimes used for legislative committee meetings, and houses the offices of the House GOP chief counsel and Cutler’s chief of staff. Both offices contain confidential documents.

Rozzi said he was simply taking over an office space intended for the speaker, saying no security breach occurred.

To Rozzi, these rooms should have been vacated by Jan. 3 — when he took over as speaker — and he did not need to give them notice, he said in a brief call with The Inquirer.

“That is the speaker’s office space, and we need a conference room to do work. That’s why I locked down the conference room and then gave him the letter,” Rozzi said. “It is the speaker’s conference room, speaker’s office space — period. It’s nothing personal, it’s strictly that I need space.”

Cutler said he’s not concerned about losing the office space but is worried about the potential that Rozzi’s staff or others accessed confidential documents while completing the lock change.

“Moving is not a problem,” Cutler said. “We anticipated that. What we didn’t anticipate was this midnight lock swap.”

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The Department of General Services declined to comment on who conducted the lock change. It’s unclear exactly when the locks were changed Tuesday.

Rozzi said he did not go inside the suite: “Neither myself nor my staff entered either room and will not until [Smeltz’s] personal files are removed,” Rozzi said in a text. “Only DGS entered the conference room to change the locks.”

Now, Cutler wants Rozzi (D., Berks) — whom he helped elect in a surprise deal between Rozzi and GOP leaders — to step down.

“This goes onto a long list of trust-breaking with the speaker, which ultimately is why I believe he should step aside,” Cutler said.

This is Cutler’s most direct call for Rozzi to step down.

Cutler previously said he wanted Rozzi to step down if he would not honor promises made publicly and privately to change his political affiliation to “Independent.” Rozzi has not changed his political affiliation and said as recently as Monday that he does not intend to do so.

Traditionally, facilities-related changes are handled by the chief clerk’s office, said Wheeler, who as chief clerk serves as a nonpartisan administrator overseeing the activity of the House. Additionally, House Security will often accompany state government staff when making facilities changes. For example, a House GOP spokesman said House Security accompanied General Services staff as they fixed air purifiers in the House Republican Leaders’ office earlier this week.

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The relationship between Rozzi and Cutler began to crumble almost immediately after Rozzi took the speaker’s gavel, after Rozzi failed to change his party registration as Cutler thought they’d agreed on. Now, the two leaders have reached a breaking point — and Cutler has asked Shapiro to investigate the lock change.

“It is nearly breathtaking that in such a short amount of time so many clear promises have been broken and the trust I placed in you with my vote has been violated. It is also completely unacceptable,” Cutler wrote in his letter to Rozzi.

“The Speaker of the House is a position of honor that demands that its occupants be of the utmost character. Respect earned, not entitled, and your failure in all these regards necessarily leads me to believe that you are not fit for the high duty of this constitutional office,” he added.

Rozzi said he had not seen the letter as of 4 p.m. Thursday. He pointed to his own letter — sent Wednesday to Cutler’s chief of staff, Smeltz — in which he ordered Smeltz to vacate the space. He also told Smeltz he should arrange to remove any remaining personal items from the “now secured” room.