Centre County officials have concerns about Rep. Conklin’s domestic violence bill. Here’s why

With domestic violence survivors and advocates by his side, Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, in April unveiled legislation that would bar anyone convicted of domestic violence from holding public office in Pennsylvania.

While the proposed constitutional amendment received early support, getting local elected officials on board has proved more difficult over the past months.

Pennsylvania’s constitution prohibits people “convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime” from serving in the General Assembly. Conklin’s domestic violence ethical integrity legislation would make domestic violence convictions a disqualifying offense.

The bill has been supported locally by the Centre County Commissioners, Centre Safe and Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania House District 171 Robert Zeigler. Conklin is running for reelection to the newly defined House District 77, which includes Ferguson and Patton townships, and parts of the State College Borough.

Conklin and his staff have presented the bill to Patton and Ferguson township supervisors, in hopes they would shown their support of the bill through a resolution. That has not happened, with long discussions among supervisors of both boards about lingering questions.

The State College Borough council has been approached about a potential resolution, but Jesse Barlow, council president, said it hasn’t been determined if it would be placed on an upcoming agenda.

Questions & concerns

House Bill 2596 reads that no one sentenced for “physically or sexually abusing a family or household member” is eligible for the General Assembly or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in Pennsylvania.

Because this would be a constitutional amendment, the bill needs to pass both chambers of the General Assembly two sessions in a row. Then it will be a question on the ballot, so voters can decide if the amendment is something they want.

In an email, Anne Ard, executive director of Centre Safe, said the public should hold their senators and representatives “to the highest ethical and moral standards” and that this bill gets to heart of that.

“Clearly, anyone who has been convicted of a crime related to domestic violence should not hold an office where they might be making laws that should be designed to protect victims. That said, my experience is that we can’t assume that only those convicted have engaged in violent conduct — we know that isn’t the case. And we need to have things in place that will protect and encourage victims to come forward — and understand the many reasons why they may not do so,” Ard said.

In the bill, “family or household member” is defined as “a spouse or a person who has been a spouse, a person living as a spouse or who lived as a spouse, a parent and a child, other persons related by consanguinity or affinity, a current or former sexual or intimate partner or a person who shares biological parenthood.”

During Patton Township’s June 15 meeting, supervisor Betsy Whitman asked why it was a family or household member, and not someone like a neighbor or caregiver. Nick Himebaugh, executive director of the PA House State Government Committee, said the legislation requires the General Assembly to define physical and sexual abuse. By having the General Assembly set that, it will be able to change with laws overtime and give more flexibility for future generations and changing laws, he said.

One concern voiced by Ferguson supervisor Tierra Williams during the June 21 township meeting: What does this bill do for those who have been abused? With this amendment, Himebaugh said, those who have been abused wouldn’t have to see their abuser serve as their elected official.

“When we vote for people to represent us, in a representative democracy, those people are casting votes on behalf of their citizens. And going and seeing someone sending you mail, seeing them on TV, seeing them on the House floor and knowing that that person abused you must be really painful, and something that we’d really like to avoid women having to go through,” Himebaugh said. “... So this would prevent those people appearing on TV and appearing in their mailbox on a regular basis and causing them further grief, for sure.”

In a phone interview with the CDT, Conklin built on Himebaugh’s argument, saying that the survivors will then have a legislator or someone in power who committed violent crimes. Many domestic violence cases are dropped by the survivor, Conklin said, and only a small portion of cases go through the court system, which he said are the worst cases.

“When you understand that the majority of all domestic violence cases are dropped, that the only most severe cases are even taken to trial, then once … they’re starting to be prosecuted, out of that small percentage, a great number of those are pled to a lesser crime. Now you’re looking at a really small amount of individuals. And these are the individuals, to get to the point of going to trial and being convicted, are the worst of the worst abusers,” Conklin said.

If that individual is then put in a position to do legislative work that will deal with sentencing and crimes, Conklin said he thinks they will only act in their best interest, and not necessarily in society’s best interest.

During a recent meeting, Patton Township supervisor Betsy Whitman said the bill conflicted with her sense of the incarceration system and reformative justice, a concern also voiced by some Ferguson supervisors. Himebaugh said that if a person’s crimes were expunged, they would be eligible to serve.

Patton supervisors chair Pamela Robb said on one hand, she is in support, as she knows people who have been abused. But she was also wary of some people not being able to have their records cleared.

“I’ve also been in the position to see both sides, especially of low-income and people of color, about having judgments cleared and not cleared. And although this is a protection bill, I’m also looking at down the line, people that made mistakes and that have turned their life around. And is this pigeonholing them from a past in moving to doing great things?” Robb said.

Conklin told the CDT anyone can apply to have their record expunged, but currently there is over a year-long backlog before anyone will be able to look at a new case. The process itself is very thorough, he said, and people are asked tough questions and are scrutinized.

“The folks who go through the system are not asked easy questions … because you’re looking at someone who has been convicted of a crime and you want to be sure if you’re expunging that record that those individuals have gone through the system, and they have absolutely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, been able to come to conclusion that they are able to be able to have that record expunged and they’re able to move forward,” he said.

Williams and Ferguson supervisor Hilary Caldwell also said they felt the framing of the legislation could actually be taking rights away from voters.

“(It’s) not only limiting those who have served their debt to society and have chosen to run for and serve in public office, but it’s also taking away choice and it’s taking away rights from voters at the ballot box. And that seems pretty patently undemocratic,” Caldwell said.

What’s next?

Conklin, who has stressed domestic violence as an important issue to him personally, having been impacted by the domestic violence shooting of family friend Traci Raymond Miscavish in 2014, said it’s more than just getting local support. It’s about bringing this issue to light.

“This is about legislation, but this is about the awareness. Just one more time giving me that opportunity to let individuals know that these types of relationships aren’t right. They’re not normal and you need to get out of them,” Conklin said.

Ard said Conklin has been a “strong and vocal advocate for survivors of domestic and sexual violence and has consistently worked with us on legislation over the years.” This legislation is one more example of that, she said.

Conklin said the bill has been co-sponsored and they are waiting for it to be assigned to a committee for it to move forward.

The Ferguson Township Supervisors meet 7 p.m. July 5. Patton meets 5:30 p.m. July 20.