On Jan. 21, only his second day in office, Gov. Tom Wolf recalled more than two dozen of former Gov. Tom Corbett’s eleventh-hour appointments, including Jim Cawley, the former lieutenant governor who served on Temple’s Board of Trustees as an ex-officio member during Corbett’s term.
“Prior to being sworn-in as governor, my predecessor put forth several eleventh hour executive nominations,” Wolf said in a statement provided by his Press Secretary Jeff Sheridan. “These moves were murky and the process was anything but open and transparent.”
“We must work to make sure every Pennsylvanian has good reason to trust the government that serves them, and these are the types of actions that make people legitimately distrust their government,” Wolf added in the statement.
The move has already upset Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman.
“The honeymoon is over,” Corman told the Inquirer. “[Wolf] is not off to a flying start, for someone who said he was going to do things differently.”
Temple offered a short statement on the appointment: “The process for the appointment of Commonwealth trustees to Temple’s board is handled by the Governor and the General Assembly,” a spokesman said in an email.
Cawley, a Bucks County native who received Temple degrees in political science and law, now serves as head of United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Temple trustee Lon Greenberg serves as chair of the regional United Way’s Board of Directors, and trustee J. William Mills, formerly a regional president of PNC Bank, serves as a regular member of the board.
Cawley could not be reached after multiple requests for comment on the Temple appointment. He told the Inquirer that his “whole career has been about public service and has been about improving the quality of life for the people who were in whatever community that I was part of. I see this role as continuing that.”
Greenberg told the Inquirer that Cawley’s experience in state government could be beneficial for the charity.
“As Lieutenant Governor, he also has a unique understanding of how United Way’s impact areas connect, and how strategic improvements in education, income, and health can lift the entire region,” Greenberg said.
Cawley served on the board twice as a governor’s non-voting representative – once under Mark Schweiker and again under Corbett. He told The Temple News in an interview before the 2014 elections that he would appreciate a future at the university.
“I am happy and honored to to serve Temple University in any way that I can,” Cawley said. “If there’s an opportunity [in the long-term] future … I would jump at the chance at any time.”
Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@temple.edu or on Twitter @JBrandt_TU.
Steve Bohnel contributed reporting.
