FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Yardley, Pa., Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. Pennsylvania saw a tenfold increase in deaths of older adults following an abuse or neglect complaint over the past few years, according to state data, and as COVID-19 ravaged the nation, calls for help mushroomed while local agencies struggled to keep caseworkers on staff.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
FILE - Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks with members of the media during a news conference in Yardley, Pa., Monday, Dec. 4, 2023. Pennsylvania saw a tenfold increase in deaths of older adults following an abuse or neglect complaint over the past few years, according to state data, and as COVID-19 ravaged the nation, calls for help mushroomed while local agencies struggled to keep caseworkers on staff.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Gov. Josh Shapiro returned the $2,450 PlexiDor electric dog door purchased in June with taxpayer dollars for the Governor’s Residence, according to his spokesman Manuel Bonder.
“That [dog] door was erroneously purchased,” Bonder said. Some mansion staff were concerned that possums or raccoons could enter the mansion if a manual dog door was installed, he added.
He did not provide documentation to show it was returned. He did not know whether the door was in the possession of the Department of General Services or if it was returned to the manufacturer, but he said it is no longer on the premises of the mansion.
Bonder said Shapiro and his wife, Lori, were “not on board” with the dog door after it was bought because they thought it was “not necessary.” Bonder wouldn’t say who initially authorized the purchase, but he said it hadn’t been installed in the mansion before it was returned in July.
“They didn’t want it,” Bonder said. “They wanted a basic dog door.”
Bonder provided LNP | LancasterOnline with a receipt for a separate $578 dog door from Home Depot that he said was installed in the residence instead of the electric one. He did not know if the state would receive a full refund for the electric door.
The electric door, likely purchased for first dogs Bentley and Bo, is designed to open when a dog wearing the sensor collar approaches. It then closes behind the dog once it passes through.
Bonder initially declined to answer questions about the dog door when asked about it by a reporter last week. However, he contacted the reporter on Wednesday, after LNP | LancasterOnline published an article showing Shapiro had spent $92,000 in public funds during his first six months to upgrade the furnishings, appliances and decor of the mansion.
When asked why he did not tell the reporter that the door had been returned, Bonder said, “I just literally didn’t know.”
Bonder said other purchases for the mansion, including six TVs and a sectional sofa with heating and massage features, are not in the process of being returned for a refund.
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