Pennsylvania's independently elected fiscal watchdog says taxpayer money shouldn't be used to settle sexual harassment claims against elected officials.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, a Democrat, said Wednesday that the practice should stop.
His comments came a day after The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first revealed that Pennsylvania taxpayers funded a quarter-million-dollar settlement in 2015 over a former legislative aide's claims of sexual harassment against longtime Democratic state Rep. Thomas Caltagirone.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is calling for Caltagirone to resign. Caltagirone's not returning phone calls and House officials aren't saying which lawmakers knew about the settlement.
House Democratic leader Frank Dermody says there was a non-disclosure agreement and Wolf's administration says the governor didn't know about the Caltagirone settlement until Tuesday.
