Egg Sandwich Costs Pennsylvania Taxpayers $75,000. State Can’t Talk About It

Pennsylvania’s annual state
budget is about $28 billion (PDF),
so a settlement totaling $75,000 may not seem like a big deal, at
least to those in charge of the state. But it should be a big deal
to taxpayers. And no matter how trifling the amounts may appear to
those who fatten themselves at the government trough, it’s
precisely that liberal approach to other people’s money that most
corrupts government.

So it was with Pennsylvania’s former health secretary, Eli
Avila, who became the target of a lawsuit claiming retaliation over
an egg sandwich. Avila is long gone in Pennsylvania—he’s now a
health inspector in New York—but the state only reached a
settlement over the lawsuit this week.

Via the
Philadelphia Inquirer:

[Restaurant owner Richard] Hanna claimed that Avila
pitched a fit and shouted, “Do you know who I am?” Later, he
contended, the health secretary sicced city inspectors on his
diner, Roxy’s Cafe, and tried to block his bid for the Capitol
cafeteria contract.

Avila denied the allegations. In court filings, he said Hanna had
tried to serve him a “precooked” egg, which he said he told Hanna
was unsafe and unlawful.

Their dustup occurred just weeks after Corbett had lured Avila, a
physician and lawyer, from New York to join his administration and
oversee a department with 1,700 employees and a $1 billion budget.
Avila lasted a little more than a year, leaving in October
2012.

The dispute with Hanna outlasted his cabinet job.

It gets better. The settlement comes with a non-disclosure
agreement, so state officials can insist they’re barred from
commenting on this waste of taxpayer money. And, the
Inquirer notes:

The egg-sandwich incident was one of several that
stirred scrutiny during Avila’s tenure in Harrisburg. He also drew
headlines for ordering special “Department of Health” windbreakers
and badges for himself and his staff, and for a confrontation over
a bloodmobile’s blocking his parking space behind the
Capitol.

Corbett, in a statement upon Avila’s resignation, called the
secretary “an asset” and praised his work as an advocate for
children’s health.

Wasting your money. For the children.