By JAN MURPHY, The Patriot-News The Patriot-News
JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News, file
Norma Kenley-Barber says a state official verbally abused her when she parked in his reserved spot.
A group of black legislators want an investigation into how state Department of Public Welfare officials treat people after a top-level staffer berated a black Harrisburg pastor for parking in his reserved space.
Rep. Ronald Waters, chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, sent a letter to Welfare Secretary Gary Alexander calling on him to explain the department’s disciplinary policy for employees who act unprofessionally toward the public.
In particular, Waters, D-Philadelphia, asked what action was taken against Philip Abromats, the former deputy secretary of the Office of Income Maintenance, who lashed out on July 21 at the Rev. Norma Kenley-Barber, 66, for parking her car in his parking place. She ran inside the Health & Welfare Building to use the restroom. Her car had a handicapped placard on the rearview mirror and a clergy sticker displayed.
Waters said in an interview Tuesday that he is concerned about how Abromats’ behavior that day reflects on his attitude toward welfare recipients. He also wonders if Abromats would have treated a young white woman the same way.
“All those things come into play when you are doing stuff like this,” Waters said. “I’m sure he would never want anybody to talk to his mother like that.”
Kenley-Barber reached out to the caucus to seek lawmakers’ assistance in ensuring Abromats was appropriately disciplined for his behavior that day, Waters said.
Department spokeswoman Anne Bale said the department doesn’t comment on specifics regarding personnel matters. She said a department official had a private telephone conversation with Waters’ staff about concerns raised in the letter but declined to elaborate. Waters said he has not spoken directly to any department official about the matter.
Kenley-Barber told the lawmakers that Abromats verbally assaulted her and called her names, including “idiot” and an expletive. Abromats later sent her an apology letter, but Kenley-Barber described it as insincere. Abromats’ prime parking space and state car were taken away after the incident.
In his letter, Waters stated, “Not only is Mr. Abromats a public employee, he is a white male who attacked a black female pastor who suffers from a disability. This type of discriminatory behavior is intolerable.”
Abromats, who was earning $125,184 a year in the deputy secretary post he held since April, was reassigned two weeks ago. He now holds a newly created position of executive director of program audits and regulatory review at a salary that has not yet been finalized, Bale said.
Kenley-Barber said a job reassignment didn’t solve the problem and that he should be removed from any executive-level post. “His behavior must be dealt with. ... I am a minister, and I must be concerned with Mr. Abromats future behavior towards the public,” she stated in an email.
Leaders in Harrisburg’s black community were equally upset over the incident.
Stanley Lawson, president of the Greater Harrisburg Chapter of the NAACP, said Abromats’ behavior is intolerable. “He had every right to question her about taking his spot. But after he got the explanation, he handled himself very poorly, unprofessional.”
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