Cracks may be starting to appear in Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2028 White House bid, a lawsuit provided to On The Money shows.
Shapiro, it should be noted, is a common-sense moderate and a much needed presence in a Democratic Party dominated these days by the loopy far left. As such he is a favorite on Wall Street, and Big Tech.
It’s been my experience that the men and women in these industries are a political grab bag – they love making dough but embrace certain liberal policies (pro choice among them). Bill Clinton is their benchmark, and they yearn for a candidate to take the party back from the progressive (and even communist) hordes.
Shapiro appears to fit that bill and the numbers don’t lie: He has raised a whopping $60 million for his fall gubernatorial re-election campaign, much of it from the moderate business types on Wall Street and in tech. His GOP challenger has pulled in just $3 million.
Yet if any of the allegations in the whistleblower lawsuit I just reviewed are even partly true — and yes they are just allegations — there are questions whether Shapiro is ready for the primetime political proctology exam he will experience if he does run in 2028.
The suit doesn’t name Shapiro as a defendant but he looms large in the litigation that takes aim at the state and agencies where the alleged whistleblower worked.
Filed in federal court by plaintiff Nicole Moyer, it alleges that the state recently fired the procurement specialist for doing her job, namely questioning the costs of state projects using taxpayer money. (Full disclosure: Moyer’s lawyer, Bryn Mawr attorney Mark Schwartz, represented me nearly two decades ago to dispute references to my published work while I was employed by another media outlet).
Those costs involved a renovation of the governor’s mansion. She claims in the lawsuit that she was fired in March, “devoid of an explanation,” after crying foul on alleged cost overruns to rehab the property after it was damaged in an arson attack.
In April 2025, a man hurling a Molotov cocktail caused substantial damage to the residence while the governor, his family and friends were inside. The attack could have cost the governor and the people inside their lives. It occurred during the first night of Passover and Shapiro is Jewish.
Obviously, the residence needs to be repaired and security around it and the governor must be heightened. But what seemed like a straightforward project soon turned oddly controversial. The state at first didn’t provide a public accounting for all the items that were being repaired, according to local media reports.
The total spend is above $30 million. Based on local press it includes not just increased security but also spending on luxury goods. According to the publication Spotlight PA, the state’s Department of General Services “has purchased a variety of items, including new leather sofas, wallpaper, ductwork, drywall, cooling foam mattresses, faucets, and other plumbing fixtures … But nearly $1.5 million of the $6 million spent is publicly unaccounted for.”
The lawsuit filed by Moyer goes further. It alleges that that state didn’t competitively bid out much of the work on the mansion, that it was replete with cost overruns and that when she brought it to the attention of her supervisors she was terminated.
A spokeswoman for Shapiro disagrees with this analysis and the allegations in the lawsuit, which she says have zero merit. The governor’s office has described Moyer as a “disgruntled former employee” and suggested her lawsuit is political in nature since she’s a registered Republican. The rep also denied that any of the money spent went unaccounted, and said Schwartz has other litigation against the governor that suggests and ax to grind.
“These totally and completely false allegations are a politically motivated attack by a disgruntled former employee who was dismissed from her position and has clearly timed this lawsuit weeks out from an election,” The spokeswoman said, adding that Moyer “was not familiar with this project’s emergency procurement process and it was beyond her scope of work.”
She said the “necessary security improvements based on its assessment and issued an Emergency Declaration consistent with the Procurement Code in the fastest, most efficient, and most cost-effective way to complete the work and ensure the safety of the Governor and his Family. Our Administration complied with all relevant procurement policies in accordance with that declaration.”
Moyer disagrees as does Schwartz who tells On The Money that politics has nothing to do with the lawsuits; he’s in fact a long time Democrat.
“This country doesn’t need another imperial president in the White House,” Schwartz said. “Instead of claiming that this is all politics he (Shapiro) should come forward for an immediate deposition. I look forward to that day.”
