Who is behind the 25 gas stations selling Freedom Fuel in the Philadelphia region, and how they are able to offer gas 40 to 50 cents cheaper than nearby stations, remains unclear.
The effort has been promoted by both the White House and President Donald Trump, raising ethics concerns from the public and government watchdogs.
Richard Painter, who served for two years as chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, said it is within a business owner’s First Amendment right to sell cheap gas, possibly at a loss, to “improve the image of the president and help the country through a national crisis.”
“The ethical issue is the involvement of the Trump administration,” he said, pointing to federal regulations that set standards of conduct for executive branch employees. “They simply can’t endorse it or have anything to do with it.”
An entity called “Freedom Fuel Network LLC,” based in Delaware, applied for a trademark on July 1. That same day, Trump promoted the network, saying on his Truth Social account that it was being run by a “very smart retailer.”
There are no businesses registered in either Pennsylvania or New Jersey under the name Freedom Fuel Network.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests to identify or provide contact information for the owners. A White Housespokesperson would say only that it is a private company that is not purchasing gas at a discount or receiving government money.
Anna Vishev, the attorney who filed the Freedom Fuel Network trademark application, said she would pass inquiries along to her client, but The Inquirer never heard back.
A Freedom Fuel-branded station on Rt. 73 in Marlton, N.J.Lacey Latch / staff
Due to tight profit margins, stations that sell cheaper gas usually focus on making up the difference in other ways, such as convenience stores and car washes, according to Jeff Lenard, spokesperson for the National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade organization representing retail fuel outlets.
That does not appear to be the case at many of the Freedom Fuel Network stores Inquirer reporters visited in recent days. One location in Brookhaven, Delaware County, had an inoperable convenience store. Several were very small, appeared somewhat rundown, and offered a very limited selection of products.
“It’s difficult to see how these stations are making money,” Lenard said. “Those types of stations tend to be more dependent on gas margins.”
Lenard said it is possible the Freedom Fuel Network branding is a temporary promotion, which is not unheard of in the fuel industry. T-Mobile partnered with Shell last month to offer $1.99-a-gallon gas at stations in Los Angeles, Houston, and Chicago as part of an anniversary promotion.
Some Freedom Fuel stations were already raising gas prices by the end of the week, including in Bensalem, where gas was $3.57 a gallon Friday.
While questions remain about the owners and structure of the Freedom Fuel Network, Lenard said gasoline is a highly regulated industry and drivers should not worry about purchasing fuel from lesser-known brands.
“There shouldn’t be an issue with gas quality,” Lenard said. “When fuel comes out of the refinery, there’s nothing that says it’s BP gas, it’s Wawa gas. … It’s all blended together.”
A small network of local owners and past issues with stations
Freedom Fuel Network branding is draped over a Gas n’ Go sign at a station on Edgmont Avenue in Brookhaven.Rob Tornoe / staff
Inquirer reporters reached out to the parcel owners, lessees,and LLCs connected to at least 19 of the gas stations. Most calls and messages went unanswered, and, on two occasions, reporters were directed to the Freedom Fuel website by LLC affiliates. In-person queries were also unsuccessful, with store attendants saying they were unaware of the origins of the branding change or unauthorized to talk about the matter.
The opaqueness behind a private operation receiving White House promotion has drawn considerable scrutiny online and even an in-person protester at a Montgomery County location.
“Who is paying for this[?]” read a man’s sign last week.
By the end of the week, Freedom Fuel offered limited remarks through the venture’s website, saying it had “answered President Trump’s call to action to lower prices at the pump.” It went on to dismiss unspecified “misinformation and baseless speculation circulating.”
“As a result of lowering prices, 25 gas stations have experienced explosive growth — an average volume increase of more than 50 percent, with several locations surging over 100 percent,” said the message.
The company did not expand on how the operation came to be or how the discounts work, but at least two clusters of network participants have shared ownership ties, with one of the clusters promoting its participation on social media.
A local Karco Gas Instagram account highlighted the Freedom Fuel transformation in its stories — at least two of its locations in Philadelphia and one in Bensalem are part of the network.
The Freedom Fuel site in Bensalem has ties to Cherry Hill developer Shamikh Kazmi, who is listed as president of Diwan Petrol Inc. The business was ensnared in a lengthy trademark dispute with BP America Inc. and BP Products North America Inc. in 2021.
After the business failed to fully comply with a judge’s order to remove BP signage, four deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service seized remaining brand signs in June 2022, according to court documents.
Kazmi could not be reached for comment, but in February announced plans to expand his Yum Grills venture to 15 locations in the Philadelphia region, including a gas station in Eagleville, Montgomery County, that is also part of the Freedom Fuel Network.
At least five other network locations are run by members of a family that operates gas stations in the region under various LLCs, including Syan I Inc., Syan Investment LLC, and Fernwood Realty Co.
Another Freedom Fuel station, this one in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, had been embroiled in a trademark dispute that ended with a judge ordering the removal of all Phillips 66 branding and a $20,000 judgment against KRSM Inc. and site owner Riar HR LLC in May.
An attorney for the defendants was not listed on the docket and calls to the owner of Riar HR LLC went unreturned.
How promotions have changed during the Trump era
Painter, who is now a law professor at the University of Minnesota, noted that stringent ethics rules have been in place since the Watergate scandal that limit using a public office to endorse any companies or organizations, whether they are private or nonprofits.
That is why Painter was vocal about concerns regarding the creation of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in 2017. When Joe Biden became president-elect, he encouraged his transition team to have the University of Pennsylvania drop the name to avoid the appearance of impropriety when the university raised funds for the center. That never happened.
Still, Trump and his administrations have taken very different approach to these ethics rules since his first term in office.
“We’ve seen multiple instances in which this president has chosen to endorse, in his official capacity, private companies and private organizations,” Painter said. “This is something I would have absolutely insisted not happen under the Bush administration.”
For now, questions about Freedom Fuel’s structure and ties to the Trump administration continue to spark anger, skepticism, and curiosity.
“Customers are asking. We tell them to visit the website,” said Mike R., a manager of a few Freedom Fuel stations in Delaware County who declined to be fully identified, citing concern over his privacy. ”Frankly, I have no information.”
Meanwhile, Ankit Modi, the owner of a Sunoco franchise in Bensalem for the last 15 years, said the low prices of a Freedom Fuel station next door were hurting his business.
“People see the lower price and just go there,” Modi said. “I don’t know how it works.”
Modi said the Freedom Fuel signs looked temporary, and he had expected the station to revert to Karco following the Fourth of July. That has not happened. On Friday, Freedom Fuel was selling gas for 43 cents a gallon less than Modi’s Sunoco.
“I’m making just eight to 10 cents in profit [per gallon], so how are they able to sell for less without government help?” Modi said. “It’s shady and unheard of.”
Back in North Philadelphia, the lack of information was not stopping drivers from pulling in and filling up their tanks.
“It doesn’t matter to me where it comes from if I see a good price,” said Jorge Mejia, who pumped gas into his car and had no clue what made the gas cheap. “I just hope it’s good.”
The intrusion into Delaware County’s network systems in late June — disrupting services for county residents — was part of “sophisticated cybercriminal attack.”
Several attempts for unauthorized access were blocked by county infrastructure, but hackers were able to gain “limited access to the County’s network and to access data maintained within the network,” the county government said in a news release Friday.
The county says it shut down its networks after the June 26 attack to safeguard county data, systems, and other sensitive information, but officials are still investigating the extent of the breach in tandem with cybersecurity experts.
The county’s internal networks are now up and running, and Delco said it is working to reinstate external-facing county services in the coming days.
“It is unfortunate that this attack has impacted services to residents, and we appreciate their patience and understanding,” the county said Friday. “We must ensure the safety of our network and data before full restoration of services.”
The incident marks the second time in roughly six years where the county’s systems have been breached. In November 2020, Delaware County was hit by a ransomware attack via a phishing email. Hackers stole sensitive information and the county ended up having to pay $25,000 to resolve the issue.
Delaware County says since that 2020 incident that “substantial protections” have been put in place.
“Those protections proved valuable in this instance, as numerous attempts to establish a larger intrusion into County systems were repeatedly blocked, greatly limiting the extent of the interference,” the county said.
When she’s not serving in the Pennsylvania House, State Rep. Marla Brown is teaching 13 fitness classes a week at the local YMCA.
From cycling to core strength to high intensity hit lessons, the pressure of the state legislature transformed the Lawrence County Republican’s former fitness hobby into another job, squeezed in the morning, in the evening and on weekends between political commitments.
“It keeps my mind healthy and active and engaged,” said Brown (R., Lawrence). “I think that’s vitally important in any career, and especially in politics where there’s so much negativity.”
More than half of the General Assembly reports an outside business interest or alternative forms of income, according to an analysis of all 251 state lawmakers’ statements of financial interest by The Inquirer. They moonlight as attorneys, company executives, property managers, farmers, and other roles when they’re not in session.
Local government reform advocates say public officials are inevitably influenced by the money they make on the side. Advocates from Rock the Capital and MarchOnHarrisburg have pushed for changes to moonlighting law, calling for bans on what they consider to be conflicts of interest.
While there are few restrictions to private employment for legislators across the country, the majority of states don’t allow their legislators to work secondary jobs in the public sector, like government or public school positions. New York imposes a cap on earnings from legislators’ outside earned income. Pennsylvania hasn’t pursued any sanctions or caps on outside employment, public or private. Not all state legislators earning outside income are making working wages — more than 40 lawmakers earn passive income as landlords.
Because the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission requires elected officials to report their businesses regardless of their earnings, it is difficult to say how many legislators are truly making significant profits on the side.
State Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R., Lehigh) is an airline captain for JetBlue Airways. State Rep. Kathleen Tomlinson (R., Bucks) is a funeral director. State Sen. Jimmy Dillon (D., Philadelphia) runs a children’s basketball academy. State Rep. Dan Williams (D., Chester) is the senior pastor of New Life in Christ Fellowship in Coatesville.
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Pennsylvania is the third highest-paid legislature in the country with a $106,000 annual salary for lawmakers. California and New York legislators make more, but reform advocates say Pennsylvania’s $181 per diem and other benefits likely push the state’s lawmakers to the top in terms of overall compensation.
With six-figure compensation, Pennsylvania lawmakers are much better off than the average state legislator in the country making $43,494 annually (New Hampshire lawmakers are the lowest-paid at just $100 a year).
Even so, the Pennsylvania General Assembly gathers fewer than 50 days a year, giving some members time to partake in personal endeavors, which has raised ethical concerns among advocates.
“You either work for the people or you work for yourself,” said Michael Pollack, executive director of MarchOnHarrisburg, one of the groups pushing for reforms.
Here’s what state legislators do in their free time, according to their 2023 Statements of Financial Interest.
Pennsylvania legislator side hustles
State legislators play a big part in making housing and rent law, but Pennsylvania has no rules limiting or banning legislators from acting as landlords, or in any career appealing to them.
At least 40 state legislators earn income from rental properties or property management businesses across the Commonwealth. Another nine legislators work as executives for property insurance and realty companies.
Of those serving in the state House and Senate’s housing committees, at least 11 legislators report income from rental properties or realty companies last year. These committees vote on legislation directly affecting renters, including amendments to Pennsylvania’s Landlord and Tenant Act.
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Not all landlord legislators rent out properties to their constituents, though.
Sen. Frank Farry (R., Bucks), the majority chair of the Senate Urban Affairs & Housing committee, quadruples as a senator, attorney, fire chief, and rental property owner. Rather than traveling to and from the Capitol, he owns a Harrisburg rowhouse that he shares with other legislators during session. He also leases his former home to his in-laws in Langhorne.
When his daughter moved to Pittsburgh, rather than moving into the newly flipped house he made for her, Rep. Jim Rigby (who DJs for friends and family) decided to rent the property out to local medical students. He says he has yet to break even on the cost.
Attorneys make up another large chunk of the bucket, with more than 15% of the General Assembly working for law firms. Lawyers have a long-held tradition of dominating American politics, and the story is no different in Pennsylvania.
Farry, an attorney with Begley, Carlin & Mandio, said he hasn’t set foot in a courtroom in years, but he still gives legal advice over the phone and never from his state Senate office.
“There needs to be boundaries between my legal job and my Senate job,” Farry said, uncertain that others in the state legislature adhere to the same separations.
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The ethics of attorneys-turned-lawmakers working for outside legal clients has been scrutinized for years. Legislators actively practicing could, in theory, meddle in laws affecting their clients, a worry of good government advocates.
Sen. Gene Yaw (R., Lycoming) moonlights as an attorney for Williamsport-based McCormick Law Firm, which represents gas companies and practices environmental law. Yaw is the majority chair of the state Senate Environmental Resources & Energy committee.
His firm also has represented Pace-O-Matic, the Georgia-based company dominating the skill games industry. In May, Yaw introduced the Skill Video Gaming Act, which would regulate and tax skill games in the commonwealth. Miele Manufacturing, which produces the systems for Pace-O-Matic in Pennsylvania, occupies Yaw’s district. Yaw did not return requests for comment.
Pollack, MarchOnHarrisburg’s executive director, said Yaw’s legal side job is “absolutely ridiculous and corrupt as can be” and called for legislators to choose a side of the fence.
Reform advocates say jobs in law, property management, and big business can create conflicts of interest for legislators.
But lawmakers’ business interests aren’t confined to those industries. Eight lawmakers work in agriculture. Several others work in health, education, and the Pennsylvania National Guard. Personal businesses range from lake resorts to custom gunsmiths to farm animal pregnancy testing.
“If you have two skis, and both skis are going in different directions, it’s hard to stay focused,” said Rock the Capital founder Eric Epstein, an advocate for reform.
Questions remain about Pennsylvania lawmakers’ business interests
Even if they’re not active in the company, Mary J. Fox, the executive director of the state Ethics Commission, said filers must report their businesses “whether they make money or not.”
This means that legislators who own businesses that haven’t operated in years still must claim the job, making it unclear at times whether lawmakers are active employees.
Rep. Michael Schlossberg (D., Lehigh) still must claim his iPhone trivia game company and author website, despite not earning income from either in years. Rep. Perry Warren (D., Bucks), a former ice cream truck driver in Long Beach Island, still claims his business Ice Cream and Dreams despite his last truck being sold in 2017.
While some lawmakers continue operations as usual, others leave their co-owners, usually spouses, to continue the business while they serve or shut down their work altogether.
“When I ran for office and got elected, my wife told everybody she fired me because I stopped showing up for work,” said Sen. Timothy Kearney (D., Delaware), the co-owner of architectural firm Cueto-Kearney Architects.
Lawmakers do not have to report how much they make from their businesses or rental properties, even if they are actively employed. It is unclear how much any legislator is making outside of the General Assembly.
“Is it a million dollars? Is it a thousand dollars? We’d like to know,” Pollack said.
Lawmakers who take up other fields say the quality of their legislative work depends on their time spent in public service elsewhere.
“It’s really a way to stay grounded in reality. One of the problems with being an elected official is you don’t stay connected with what’s going on in the real world,” said Rep. Arvind Venkat (D., Allegheny), an emergency physician working weekend night shifts from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Farry says firefighting helped him understand his role as the chair of the Fire and Emergency Caucus when he served in the House, even as his staff called him crazy for working 70 hours a week.
“It was more important to be there and help out, in my mind,” Farry said. “I’ll make up the sleep at some point.”
Sarah Nicell is an intern with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents Association. They can be reached at snicell@inquirer.com.
A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence found a new home after South Jersey Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III placed the winning bid of $3.6 million on behalf of his family at an auction on Wednesday.
The document, which was put on sale to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary byCamden County auction house Goldin, is considered to be one of the oldest copies of the Declaration of Independence.
The copy was printed in Exeter, N.H., in 1776 by local printer Robert Luist Fowle, according toPhillyVoice.
Only 11 copies of an Exeter broadside are known to have survived, with two others having been sold in January 2026 and January 2025 by Christie’s auction house in New York for $5.7 million and $2.4 million, respectively, reported PhillyVoice, which was founded by Lexie Norcross, the daughter of George Norcross.
“This one is in tremendous condition, it may have been posted in a tavern or some kind of hall,” Ken Goldin, founder of Goldin Auctions, said to PhillyVoice. “The fact that any of them survived is remarkable.”
Lexie Norcross and Alex Norcross, George Norcross’ son, said in a statement it was a privilege to own such an important historical document, especially so close to the 250th anniversary.
“As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, we are deeply honored to become the stewards of such an extraordinary piece of our nation’s history,” Lexie and Alex Norcross said in a statement. “The Declaration of Independence is far more than a historic document, it is a pivotal document that belongs to the story of every American and a symbol of the ideals that continue to unite and inspire generations.”
According to PhillyVoice, the Norcross family plans to make the document publicly accessible, with Lexie and Alex Norcross saying they are dedicated to preserving it.
“We recognize the responsibility that comes with preserving this remarkable piece of our nation’s heritage and committed to preserving it with the care and respect it deserves so future generations can continue to appreciate its enduring significance,” Lexie and Alex Norcross said.
George E. Norcross III, an insurance executive and major Jersey political boss, is also the owner of two other declaration-related artifacts.
In July 2021, the Norcross family paid $4 million for a copy of the Declaration of Independence, presented to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, one of the 56 signers.
The family also purchased the Proctor-Sang-Newell Collection of Signers of the Declaration of Independence, one of 40 complete sets of the signatures of the 56 signers of the declaration known to exist.
President Donald Trump dismantled a long-standing bipartisan elections board Thursday, four months before a midterm contest that will determine which party controls Congress.
Trump dismissed members of the Elections Assistance Commission less than two weeks after the Supreme Court gave the president broad leeway to reshape boards that were designed to be independent. Congress created the panel to strengthen and secure elections in response to the challenges of the 2000 contest and structured it so no more than two of its four members belong to the same political party.
Trump’s actions weaken the commission, which is responsible for maintaining the federal voter registration form and certifying electronic voting equipment. New appointees would need to be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate.
The move is the latest in Trump’s broad effort to exert authority over elections as he falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen from him. Trump has spent years casting doubts on elections and pushed to limit the use of mail ballots and voting machines.
In recent months, Trump has sought to overhaul how the midterm elections will be run, in part by directing the commission to redesign a form so that people would have to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote. Many of Trump’s actions on elections, including his attempt to change the form, have been thwarted by courts.
The White House said the president “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.” It did not say whether he planned to name replacements and when he might do so.
Late last month, the Supreme Court ruled Trump could fire a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission in a decision that gave presidents broad powers to determine who controls federal agencies. The ruling was tempered by a separate decision that came the same day that prevented Trump from dismissing a member of the Federal Reserve Board. His latest actions could prompt new litigation and determine the extent of the president’s authority.
Trump on Thursday fired the two Democratic members of the elections commission, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, and accepted the resignation of a Republican member, Christy McCormick. The other Republican member, Donald Palmer, resigned this spring.
Despite the firings, the commission’s staff can certify voting equipment, disburse funds, and maintain the federal voter registration form, according to the Institute for Responsive Government, a nonprofit group aimed at making government more accessible. The staff cannot establish new policies or guidelines without commissioners, the group said.
Trump’s move “is a blatant part of his plan to politicize our elections,” said Sen. Alex Padilla (Calif.) and Rep. Joe Morelle (N.Y.). The two are top Democratic members of committees that oversee election policies.
“Americans deserve elections that are safe, secure, and run free from political interference — not overseen by partisan loyalists and election deniers beholden to Trump,” they said in a statement.
The Trump administration has forced out the three remaining members of an independent, bipartisan commission that supports states in administering their elections, the White House confirmed on Thursday. The move comes as President Donald Trump seeks to cast doubt on the outcome of the upcoming midterms and impose control over how ballots are counted.
Trump terminated, effective immediately, Thomas Hicks and Benjamin Hovland, two members selected by congressional Democrats to serve on the Election Assistance Commission, and accepted the resignation of a Republican member, Christy McCormick.
The board has no other remaining members, as its fourth commissioner resigned this spring.
An unidentified White House official issued a statement saying that Trump reserved the right to remove individuals who “may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.” The White House official cast the dismissals as part of the federal government’s strategy to work across agencies to safeguard elections from fraud and abuse.
The official pointed to the recent decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had the authority to fire most independent regulators for any reason, ushering in a vast expansion of presidential power. Trump had hailed the decision as “the Greatest Increase in Presidential Power in the last 100 years.”
Trump has been laying the groundwork for months to claim that Republicans would face a tough midterm election, not because of the broadly unpopular war in Iran and plummeting approval ratings on the economy, but because the country’s election system is fraudulent.
Trump, who has falsely claimed that the election he lost in 2020 was “rigged,” has been pushing legislation that would impose stringent voter identification requirements. He has called for significantly curtailing the use of mail-in ballots, which he has claimed without evidence that Democrats have used to cheat. (Trump voted by mail in a special election in Florida in March.)
The Election Assistance Commission, which was established in 2002, is a crucial guardrail for ensuring election security across the country. According to its website, it guides states in ensuring they meet voting requirements, oversees testing and certification of voting systems and disperses funding to help states meet requirements. It serves as a national clearinghouse for information on election administration and maintains the national mail voter registration form established by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.
Last year, Trump issued an executive order that calls on the Election Assistance Commission to require people to show government-issued proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and directs state or local officials to record and verify the information. It also seeks to require states to count ballots by Election Day. A judge permanently blocked the order, saying the president exceeded his authority.
Michael Waldman, the president and chief executive of the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, in a statement called the terminations “deeply concerning in light of President Trump’s relentless efforts to try to interfere in elections.”
The new Air Force One, which President Donald Trump flew on earlier this week to Turkey, lacks the same defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced antimissile capabilities, according to multiple officials who have been briefed on how the jet was retrofitted.
Experts say the absence of those capabilities on the Boeing 747-8 aircraft, which was donated by Qatar, creates potential risk in using the jet abroad, a dynamic underscored by the abrupt decision Wednesday for Trump to leave Turkey on the old Air Force One at the urging of the Secret Service.
The episode is intensifying the focus on Trump’s demands to rapidly retrofit the donated 747 to replace an aging fleet that had served as the official presidential planes.
Lawmakers have called on the administration to disclose whether the overhaul of the Qatari plane, which the Air Force oversaw in the course of the past year, provided sufficient security upgrades. The safety of the aircraft is critical not only for the president, but also for the large entourage of White House staff, Secret Service officials, journalists, and guests who fly aboard.
Trump pushed for the new plane to be put into use as quickly as possible and frequently complained that the old presidential aircraft was not impressive enough to take on international trips.
On Thursday, the White House did not address specific questions about the new plane’s capabilities, but defended its safety.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff,” Steven Cheung, the communications director, said in a statement. “As the president has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal to address those threats.”
The Air Force has declined to discuss specifics around security systems on the retrofitted Qatari plane, which is being used as a “bridge” aircraft while two Boeing jets that will be part of the permanent presidential fleet are being finished.
But in a statement it made when it announced that the donated jet was ready to transport the president, it acknowledged that the temporary plane did not have all the equipment usually found on an Air Force One.
“No risk was taken in security, safety, or mission communications,” the Air Force said in a statement on June 19. “But the collective team made trades on some of the less commonly used mission sets that Boeing must deliver to support the next 40 years.”
The Air Force would not say what it meant by “less commonly used mission sets.”
However, officials who have been briefed on the retrofitting of the Qatari jet, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe its security features, said it did not have the same counter-defensive capabilities of the previous model.
Two former Air Force officials, who had both been involved in the effort to replace the older Air Force One planes, said they were surprised to see Trump fly on the new jet overseas, where there are greater security risks. Turkey, where Trump attended a NATO summit, borders Iran, which the United States pummeled with renewed strikes this week.
The former officials were not involved with the retrofitting of the Qatari jet, but said the speed of the project meant there would not have been enough time to make all of the security modifications that are traditionally associated with a fully equipped presidential aircraft.
“Time didn’t permit all the normal Air Force One modifications, so some mix of security, communications and support is missing,” said Frank Kendall, the former Air Force secretary who was in charge of the department as it tried to push Boeing to accelerate its long-delayed contract to deliver two new Air Force One planes.
“With the Iran situation, this could be of concern,” Kendall said. “Frankly, I’m surprised to see this plane used outside the U.S.”
Andrew P. Hunter, the former Air Force assistant secretary who was in charge of the Air Force One program during the Biden administration, also said that a true retrofit of a 747 jet to prepare it to become Air Force One would require more than a year of work.
The day before Trump left for Turkey, Senate Democrats wrote to the Air Force asking questions about the modifications to the Qatari plane and questioning whether it had all the necessary security upgrades.
“Trump’s own statements — including his celebration of ‘a level of luxury that nobody’s ever seen before’ — make it clear that these decisions prioritized Trump’s personal comfort and tastes over U.S. national security,” they wrote in the letter sent by Sen. Christopher Murphy (D., Conn.) and 12 other senators.
The older planes that served as Air Force One included a defensive system designed to defeat heat-seeking missiles. That capacity is also planned to be included in the new Boeing planes, according to three former Pentagon officials.
Different parts of the defensive systems are visible on the old Air Force One, under the wing of the plane and on its tail. They are not observable in photographs of the new Qatari plane, according to a third former Air Force official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the security protocols.
Missile defense systems on Air Force One have seen little use in the history of the aircraft, but have nevertheless been considered critical aspects of the plane’s security features.
The Pentagon published specifications for the Boeing aircraft now under construction that indicate the new jets will include a “self-defense system” and “mission communication system,” as these and other upgrades are needed “to enable the president to execute the duties of head of state, chief executive, and commander in chief.”
U.S. officials have said that Iran has been targeting Trump since he ordered the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, in January 2020. During the 2024 campaign, the Secret Service increased protection for Trump, even before the attempt on his life in Butler, Pa., because of intelligence about Iran’s plotting against him.
Despite the resumption of intense U.S. strikes on Iran, U.S. policymakers briefed on the current intelligence do not believe that Iran has a current plan to kill Trump during this period. A U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe intelligence assessments, said that Iran had a clear understanding of what kind of deep provocation any attempt on Trump’s life would be and the intensity of a U.S. response.
Nevertheless, the Secret Service was concerned enough about Trump’s proximity to the country while in Ankara to force the president to swap planes on the way out of the country, as the New York Times first reported Wednesday.
In announcing the change, Trump offered a different story: He claimed that he was flying out on the old plane so the new jet could leave early and make stops at U.S. military bases to show it off to the troops because the aircraft is “magnificent.”
One former senior White House official involved in discussions about military aircraft used for presidential travel said that there were frequently points of tension between White House staff and the military advisers and Secret Service over travel plans when security questions emerged.
But when the military experts demanded changes, White House officials generally let them prevail, with “course of action” plans that mitigated potential threats.
Shortly after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dealt a legal blow to so-called skill games in June, the CEO of Parx Casino celebrated the decision and blamed the unregulated slot machine-like devices for attracting “rampant crime, money laundering, compulsive gambling and underage gambling.”
Days later, hundreds of small-business owners, veterans, and other supporters of skill games had a very different message at a state Capitol rally. They had signs reading “SUPPORT SKILL GAMES, SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES” and others declaring that the machines help generate revenue for American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts.
Some supporters arrived on buses paid for by Pace-O-Matic, the out-of-state game developer that in recent years has become a political heavyweight in Pennsylvania, spending millions on lobbying and electoral campaigns, and growing an unregulated market that swept across corner stores, bars, gas stations, and other locations.
The dueling messages marked the latest clash between Parx and Pace-O-Matic in a yearslong political, legal, and public relations fight over the games, which has featured accusations of conflicts of interest and attempts to influence legislators, law enforcement authorities, and other government officials.
An Inquirer review of hundreds of pages of court records and interviews with key players offer an inside look at the behind-the-scenes battle to shape public policy in Harrisburg between Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic — a leading developer of software for the video game machines — and Bensalem’s Parx Casino, which reported the most gross slot machine revenue, $375 million, of any Pennsylvania casino operator last year.
Pace-O-Matic’s “Pennsylvania Skill” game seen in a gas station convenience store in Philadelphia.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
In the last decade, skill game developers and manufacturers seized on a huge business opportunity, which casinos and other gambling interests say cost them market share. And some politicians were salivating over a new potential source of tax revenue, while others saw an unacceptable expansion of the vice economy.
That debate has reached a turning point, as the high court found that unregulated skill games are unlawful. But the court paused its order, giving lawmakers a window until October to legalize, tax, and regulate the games — or leave owners and operators vulnerable to prosecution.
Pennsylvania made a bet on gambling two decades ago, legalizing slot machines in casinos in 2004 as lawmakers sought a new stream of tax revenue. The legislature has since authorized more games such as poker and blackjack, sports betting, and video game terminals at truck stops.
Gambling outside casinos and other licensed establishments remains illegal. But corner store skill games managed to take off — in part because of a 2014 court decision that found Pace-O-Matic’s game was not a “gambling device” under the state crimes code.
There are now an estimated 70,000 machines across the state, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, not subject to the taxes or regulations on casino slot machines.
In his February budget address, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a 52% tax on gross skill game revenues — roughly in line with the rate that applies to casino slot machines — which the administration projects could generate almost $800 million in the first year of implementation.
Under his proposal, Shapiro would authorize 40,000 skill game machines and video game terminals — which are already legal — statewide. That means tens of thousands of skill machines currently operating would be considered unlawful.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro in June.Courtesy of MS NOW / Scott Gries
Separately, a bill supported by the skill game industry would impose a $500 monthly fee on each machine, cap the number of total machines at 50,000, and raise an estimated $300 million in tax dollars in the first year. The games are “a small, lifeline raft to help mom-and-pop business owners,” said State Rep. Danilo Burgos (D., Philadelphia), a sponsor of the bill.
Casinos and other gaming interests are trying to protect a $6.8 billion market in Pennsylvania. Pace-O-Matic’s machines across the state generated about $525 million in gross revenue in 2024, with the company receiving 20% of that, minus certain discounts, and the rest going to operators that scout locations and stores that house the machines, according to court documents.
But, come October, if its skill game machines ultimately are not legalized by the state legislature, Pace-O-Matic will pull out of Pennsylvania, said Mike Barley, the company’s chief public affairs officer. “We’ll always abide by the law.”
Millions in lobbying
Pace-O-Matic has spent $8.4 million on lobbying in Harrisburg over the last five years, records show, the most by any single gaming company. In contrast, the operators of more than a dozen Pennsylvania casinos spent $7.6 million combined on lobbying during that time period, according to an Inquirer review of disclosures.
Lobbyists help draft legislation, communicate their clients’ interests to policymakers, and wine and dine government officials.
And Pace-O-Matic has recruited Harrisburg insiders with close ties to state lawmakers for the job: a former member of the Republican National Committee, a former state senator, a onetime top aide to House and Senate Republicans, and a former chief of staff to then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.
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Since 2021, a political action committee affiliated with the company has reported spending more than $9 million in Pennsylvania, with about two-thirds of that coming this year.
Part of that war chest was aimed at unseating three incumbent Republican state senators in primary elections this spring, as Pace-O-Matic took exception to a proposed skill games tax backed by Senate GOP leaders last year. More than $3 million went toward loan repayments to donors.
Pace-O-Matic has also devoted resources to fighting with its competitor, Parx Casino, in court.
Pace-O-Matic has filed numerous lawsuits, including several that accuse Parx’s lobbyists of going beyond lawful advocacy and wrongfully interfering with its business relationships.
Parx has fought Pace-O-Matic’s growth by privately drafting legislation to ban skill games, filing briefs opposing skill games to the state Supreme Court, and accusing Pace-O-Matic in a lawsuit of leading a criminal enterprise.
Parx spent almost $1.3 million on lobbying during the last five years, the most of any casino. Among its lobbyists is a former state senator who sponsored Parx-backed legislation to ban skill games. Parx’s affiliated PAC, 2999 Group, has reported almost $1 million in expenditures since 2021.
A row of slot machines on the gaming floor of Parx Casino in Bensalem in 2018.James Blocker / Staff Photographer
“It’s a scorched-earth campaign that nobody in town who I know has ever seen anything quite like it,” said Pete Shelly, one of the Harrisburg lobbyists for Parx who was personally sued by Pace-O-Matic. “The amount of money they were able to spend, and the resources they threw at protecting their franchise, was astounding. And their tactics speak for themselves.”
In response, Pace-O-Matic’s Barley responded simply: “Ditto.”
Drafting a bill
Founded in 2000 by Michael Pace — a pioneer of countertop video games — Pace-O-Matic expanded to Pennsylvania in 2014. The company took its game straight to the cops.
Pace-O-Matic says it asked the Pennsylvania State Police whether its coin-operated tabletop machine qualified as a legal game of skill — or as an illegal gambling device. In an effort to test this legal question, the company and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement in November 2013 arranged for a “friendly” seizure of its game at the American Italian Club in Aliquippa, Beaver County, according to court records.
Whereas in a game of chance like a slot machine, the outcome is decided predominantly “on the basis of probability,” the Pace-O-Matic game featured a level of interactivity that required skill, the judge wrote. That meant the state had failed to prove it was a gambling device.
Skill games in a barber shop in Hazelton.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The opinion gave the skill industry a boost, leading to a boom in machines across the state. Within a few years, Parx went on the offensive.
In 2019, representatives for Parx privately drafted legislation, at the request of then-State Sen. Tommy Tomlinson (R., Bucks), to ban skill games, Spotlight PA reported.
In a March 2019 memo to colleagues about his legislation, Tomlinson cited a lack of consumer protections to prevent minors from playing skill games and pointed to testimony from Pennsylvania Lottery officials that the machines divert funds from programs for seniors.
‘Coordinated litigation strike’
Later that year, in July 2019, Parx outside attorney Mark Stewart e-mailed lawyers representing other casinos, proposing they join together to “launch a coordinated litigation strike on the same day against a large number” of stores that hosted Pace-O-Matic games, according to court papers.
The strike would put “PA Skill” — a reference to Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania Skill games — “on the defensive, having to run around, spend money, and dedicate time and personnel resources to defending the numerous suits,” Stewart wrote.
He added that this would also “draw public and political attention to the illegality of the machines,” according to a lawsuit Pace-O-Matic later filed against Stewart and his firm, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott.
A few months later, Eckert filed dozens of lawsuits on behalf of Parx against retail locations that had skill games, including many that hosted Pace-O-Matic machines, the lawsuit said.
The law firm’s involvement caught Pace-O-Matic’s attention, the company says, because Eckert had represented the company in Virginia even as Stewart advocated against its interests in Pennsylvania.
Pace-O-Matic in 2020 filed a lawsuit accusing Eckert of violating the firm’s fiduciary duties. In court filings, Eckert has denied the allegations, saying that the company knew about the firm’s representation of gaming clients in Pennsylvania. A judge in 2022 signed an order prohibiting Eckert from advocating against the legality of Pace-O-Matic’s skill games. The litigation is ongoing.
Stewart — now an executive vice president at the Cordish Cos., a Baltimore real estate and entertainment company whose properties include two Pennsylvania casinos — did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Eckert did not return a message.
That litigation unearthed emails showing coordination between Parx representatives and Tomlinson’s office on the proposed legislative ban.
In the two years after he proposed that legislation, Tomlinson’s campaigns received $20,000 in contributions from 2999 Group, the PAC led by Parx founder and chairman Robert W. Green. The PAC formed in 2020 after federal courts struck down a Pennsylvania law banning political contributions from people involved in the gaming industry.
Tomlinson retired in 2022. He registered a lobbying firm, RMT Legislative Consulting, in October 2024. He started lobbying for Parx the following month, records show.
Tomlinson did not respond to requests for comment.
‘STOP THESE MACHINES’
While Tomlinson’s legislation to ban skill games failed to advance, casinos pursued other avenues to protect their interests as the unregulated and untaxed games continued to proliferate throughout the state.
Ahead of a planned meeting with the office of then-Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in July 2021, Parx representatives drafted a PowerPoint presentation depicting a child playing a skill game under the heading “STOP THESE MACHINES,” according to emails reviewed by The Inquirer.
The presentation argued that skill games were illegal, undercut revenue for the Pennsylvania Lottery and the programs it funds for seniors, and failed to comply with anti-money laundering rules that “guard against organized crime and terrorist groups.”
Parx lobbyists wanted to meet with the attorney general’s office, emails show, because they believed prosecutors were preventing the state police from seizing skill games. The attorney general’s office had said in a statement that while the office maintained that skill games were illegal, it would not “actively seize machines” until the state Commonwealth Court provided guidance on whether they were legal.
Reached by The Inquirer, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office — now led by Republican Dave Sunday — said it was unable to confirm if that meeting took place. A spokesperson said the office maintained the posture reflected in its public statement and “successfully advocated for that position leading to the Supreme Court’s decisive ruling.”
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday in 2025.Kalim A. Bhatti / For The Inquirer
Pace-O-Matic’s Barley said that around this time, there was a “notable shift in the way the OAG’s office treated our games.” Prosecutors started working with counties to coordinate seizures of games, he said, but Pace-O-Matic successfully challenged those actions and its property was returned.
Casino interests reached out to local law enforcement authorities as well.
When an executive at Mohegan Pennsylvania casino in Wilkes-Barre spotted a new coffee shop in nearby Kingston that advertised Pace-O-Matic games, he contacted his lobbying team, including Stewart and Shelly, the lobbyist who was later sued by Pace-O-Matic, emails show.
“Maybe instead of [Pennsylvania State Police] or local police, we send letter to Luzerne County DA,” Shelly wrote in a March 2021 email to colleagues.
“Seems good idea,” Stewart responded, noting that they had previously sent a letter to the district attorney in Monroe County about skill games.
An alleged conflict of interest
Soon after, the fight over skill games became personal.
Pace-O-Matic in 2022 filed lawsuits against three Parx lobbyists — Shelly, Richard Gmerek, and Sean Schafer — accusing them of attempting to sabotage Pace-O-Matic’s business. In court papers, attorneys for the lobbyists have denied the allegations. The case is ongoing.
In an interview, Parx CEO Eric Hausler said Pace-O-Matic’s lawsuits aimed to “shut our people up, and shut us up, by trying to intimidate our people into being silent about what we believed and continue to believe was a form of illegal gambling.”
He said the firm’s lobbying was appropriate. “We reached out to anybody that would listen to us, whether it was regulators or the attorney general’s office or the legislature, to say, ‘These are slot machines,’” Hausler said.
The Parx CEO noted that the law firm representing Pace-O-Matic in those cases, the McCormick Law Firm, employs State Sen. Gene Yaw (R., Lycoming), a proponent of legislation favored by the skill games industry. Yaw’s wife, Ann S. Pepperman, is a partner at Williamsport-based McCormick. The CEO described Yaw’s association with the firm as a “clear conflict of interest.”
Pa. State Sen. Gene Yaw in August 2023.Frank Kummer / Pa. House of Representatives
Yaw has benefited from Pace-O-Matic’s political giving. Operators for Skill, a PAC led and funded in part by Pace-O-Matic executives, has contributed $47,500 to Yaw’s campaigns since 2021, records show.
His district is home to Miele Manufacturing, a company that makes and distributes Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania Skill machines.
In response to written questions about whether Yaw or his wife has benefited financially from McCormick’s representation of Pace-O-Matic, a spokesperson said the senator had no comment.
Pace-O-Matic representatives have said the company’s leaders and PAC donate to many candidates in both parties.
Targeting incumbent senators
Beyond Yaw, Pace-O-Matic has cultivated plenty of allies in Harrisburg, contributing millions to politicians’ campaigns and inviting lawmakers to an outdoor rodeo festival in Wyoming — and helping pay for some members’ travel. The company has said the purpose of the 2022 trip was to help lawmakers learn from Wyoming legislators about that state’s regulated skill game industry.
But Pace-O-Matic has also alienated some lawmakers, who have described its tactics as overly aggressive.
Last year, the company contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to a federal super PAC called Citizens Alliance Political Action Committee Inc., which in turn donated to an Ohio-based PAC called Defeating Communism.
Defeating Communism distributed flyers attacking Pennsylvania Republican state senators who had taken positions at odds with the skill game industry. “Tell Senator Farry to stop targeting PA Firefighters + Veterans!” read one flyer targeting State Sen. Frank Farry, a Bucks County Republican and longtime volunteer firefighter who had introduced legislation to tax skill games at the same rate as casinos.
Sen. Frank Farry (R., Bucks), right, has been the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company fire chief for more than two decades.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The skill games industry says many volunteer fire departments and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts generate income from their machines.
Pace-O-Matic upped the ante this year, targeting three sitting Republican senators who were facing primary campaigns this spring. A company affiliate contributed $1 million this year to the Citizens Alliance super PAC, which contributed $2.8 million to a state PAC of the same name.
The state PAC spent that money in part on TV ads and mail literature against incumbent Sens. Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne), Camera Bartolotta (R., Washington) — both of whom are members of GOP leadership — and Chris Gebhard (R., Lebanon). Gebhard wrote a bill last year that proposed taxing skill games at a rate the industry argued was too high.
Operators for Skill, the Pace-O-Matic-affiliated PAC, gave $950,000 this year to Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania PAC, a separate state group that also invested in campaigns against the three senators.
Citizens Alliance is a national organization with chapters in several states, including Pennsylvania. Citizens Alliance CEO Cliff Maloney said his group opposes net increases in taxes and fees, and it works “with partners who agree and want to advance our principles.”
In Bartolotta’s race, voters were getting upward of six mailers each day about her that she described as filled with “every ridiculous lie and smear.”
She remains confused why she was targeted by Pace-O-Matic, arguing that she has always supported fraternal organizations and other small businesses using the machines as an additional revenue source.
“Clearly Pace-O-Matic was making money hand over fist and they didn’t want to be regulated and they didn’t want to be taxed,” Bartolotta said. “They wanted it to be the wild, wild west.”
The outside money prompted Senate Republicans’ campaign arm to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars protecting the incumbents, who ultimately prevailed. The senators also got a boost from sports betting interests, which spent millions backing their campaigns, Spotlight PA reported. That intervention came after a coalition of online sports betting sites helped stave off a last-minute effort to tax sports bets last year.
Asked about Pace-O-Matic’s decision to invest in those races, Barley said, “There’s a part of us that doesn’t feel like our positions were being heard fairly.”
Political skill
Despite the electoral setbacks, Pace-O-Matic has maintained support among a broad cross-section of lawmakers — from State Sen. Anthony H. Williams, a Philadelphia Democrat, to Yaw, the Lycoming County Republican — who point to the revenue skill games generate for small businesses.
“We signed up to protect the small-business owner, and in this time when everybody talks about affordability, I can’t afford a 52% tax,” Williams said at the recent rally, referring to the governor’s proposal.
He and Yaw have sponsored legislation backed by the industry that would impose the $500 monthly fees on game terminals. In an interview, Williams said the bill would reduce the number of skill games operators in his community “significantly” and ensure proper regulation, adding that he was concerned about locations that offer games in addition to selling liquor by the drink and loose cigarettes.
State. Sen. Anthony H. Williams in 2025.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The political committee aligned with Pace-O-Matic, Operators for Skill, has contributed $70,000 to Williams’ campaign account since last year, records show. Williams, the top Democrat on a Senate panel that oversees gambling, said he developed his policy position before receiving that campaign money. He noted he has also received contributions from casino interests.
“I don’t get a contribution and then decide to support something,” he said. “I’ve never done that.”
Parx CEO Hausler said he is sympathetic to small businesses that host the machines but argued regulation will improve the quality of the games and reduce the number of locations competing with them.
But he argued that skill games should face the same tax rate as casino slot machines, and called the Yaw-Williams bill a “sweetheart deal.”
“I think of it like, ‘I was making $20 an hour in cash off the books. And now I gotta pay taxes,’” he said.
Hausler said Pennsylvania’s casino industry employs 15,000 people and pays more than $2 billion annually in gaming taxes that fund property tax relief, horse racing, and local government grants.
How legislators will balance those interests — and address a perennial budget deficit — is still taking shape. Under Shapiro’s proposed $53 billion budget, the state would spend $4.8 billion more than it is projected to take in over the next fiscal year.
“It’s important that lawmakers act. We don’t want something that’s rushed. We want something that grows the foundation for our future,” Doug Sprankle, a Western Pennsylvania grocery store owner who runs a skill games advocacy group, said during the Capitol rally.
There are signs that at least some lawmakers are not ready to cut ties with Pace-O-Matic or the skill game industry.
Pennsylvania House Republican leaders have invited prospective donors to a July 27 outing at the Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, with a reception and dinner to follow the tournament, according to a fundraising solicitation obtained by The Inquirer.
Listed alongside the event’s sponsors was Operators for Skill, the Pace-O-Matic PAC.
Staff writer Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.
Richard H. Glanton, 79, formerly of Philadelphia, longtime lawyer, onetime executive deputy counsel to former Gov. Dick Thornburgh, business entrepreneur, former Lincoln University trustee, and innovative former president of the Barnes Foundation, died Sunday, June 21, of a heart attack at his home in Princeton.
Born and reared in rural Georgia and one of the first Black graduates of what is now the University of West Georgia, Mr. Glanton went on to become a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, state government policy and administration expert, corporate vice president, and indefatigable president of the Barnes Foundation’s collection of Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and modern art.
He was elected president of the Barnes Foundation in 1990, served until 1998, and championed a series of controversial initiatives to finance extensive gallery renovations and the operation of its art collection and related educational programs. To raise the money, he suggested, among other things, selling 15 of the collection’s hundreds of paintings, charging million-dollar fees for a worldwide lending tour of 83 paintings, extending visiting hours, increasing admission, building a new parking lot, selling a coffee-table catalog, and renting out its art studios.
All of his ideas, several of which did not materialize, drew supporters and critics, and Mr. Glanton, also a Barnes trustee, spoke often of his policy discussions with other Barnes officials, art experts around the world, politicians, and neighbors of the foundation building in Lower Merion Township. In 1990, he told The Inquirer: “I never purported to know anything about art. But I can lead.”
His most successful project turned out to be a two-year world lending tour of 83 foundation paintings that raised about $20 million and drew raves from museum leaders in Washington, Paris, Tokyo, Fort Worth, Toronto, and Philadelphia. The exhibition in Paris drew a then-record 1.5 million visitors, and Mr. Glanton was feted at every stop.
“Richard is somebody who started out by wanting to do something good and important and substantial, and persevered to do it despite a great deal of criticism,” Glenn D. Lowry, then director of the Art Gallery of Ontario, told The Inquirer in 1995.
Some critics said Mr. Glanton and others valued the foundation’s commercial success over its original educational role and what The Inquirer’s Edward J. Sozanski called “the Barnes mystique.” When the lending tour ended at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1995, Mr. Glanton told The Inquirer: “I never realized or understood that it could be controversial to make available to the public a collection that is a public trust.
“But I think if you think something’s right, you should do it, whether or not people disagree, and whether it is popular or not. … You have to think not only in terms of your lifetime, but in 100 years, 1,000 years. And when you do, these little slings and arrows don’t really matter that much.”
A story and this photo of Mr. Glanton appeared in The Inquirer in 1995.Newspapers.com
Mr. Glanton was executive deputy counsel to Gov. Thornburgh from 1979 to 1983, and he met often with constituents and helped fill judicial vacancies. “Richard is a political animal,” Ted Pillsbury, then director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, told The Inquirer in 1995. “He understands politics. He understands what makes politics work, and he understands people. And he does not take certain things personally.”
Mr. Glanton earned his law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972 and spent several years with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, United Airlines, and other companies. In Philadelphia, he represented politicians and other notable clients, and specialized in energy, insurance, and real estate cases for firms known now as WolfBlock and Reed Smith.
He was also senior vice president of corporate development at Exelon Corp., founder of a local TV station, social media company, and consulting firm, and board member at Aqua America, the Morris Arboretum, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and other groups. He ended a workplace sexual harassment suit with a private settlement in the early 1990s and had public policy spats with local government officials and former Lincoln president Niara Sudarkasa.
He considered running for mayor in 1995. Former Gov. Ed Rendell said: “He was exceptionally bright, courageous, and never afraid to challenge the status quo in pursuit of what he believed was right.”
Mr. Glanton was at home in a suit jacket and tie.Courtesy of the family
One of 11 children, Richard Howard Glanton was born Nov. 21, 1946. He was reared in rural Villa Rica, Ga., did not start school until the fourth grade, and worked with his siblings for years on the family farm.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in English and, in 2005, was awarded an honorary doctorate from West Georgia. He married Scheryl Williams, and they had a daughter, Morgan, and a son, David.
After a divorce, he married Eileen Candia, and they had a daughter, Georgia. They lived in Philadelphia and Chicago, and moved to Princeton in 2009.
Mr. Glanton was a doting father, his family said. He taught his children to ride bikes and read Shakespeare. “He taught me that there was no room in which I didn’t belong or couldn’t strive to enter,” his daughter Morgan said. “I love him for that.”
Mr. Glanton was an avid reader and golfer.Courtesy of the family
Nearly everyone he met remembered his laugh and perpetual suit jacket and tie. He played golf, was an avid reader, and would talk politics for hours.
“He was fearless in his conviction to do what he believed was necessary and proper to achieve his goals and provide for his family,” his son said. His wife said: “He was kind and generous. He made everyone he spoke to feel special. He was always bringing you in.”
In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Mr. Glanton is survived by two sisters, four brothers, and other relatives. One sister and four brothers died earlier.
Memorial services are to be held at noon Saturday, July 18, at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church, 119 Thomas Dorsey Dr., Villa Rica, Ga. 30180, and at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at the Union League, 140 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s plans to build a skyline-altering arch in the nation’s capital is getting another review from the federal commission whose approval he needs, but the agency’s staff says the project should be revised before it gets the go-ahead.
The National Capital Planning Commission is meeting Thursday to give further consideration to the Republican president’s proposed 250-foot arch.
In a report, the agency’s staff recommends that the commission approve the preliminary site and building plans for the arch. But the staff also recommends that the design be tweaked to comply with a federal law that limits building heights in downtown Washington to preserve the city’s famous skyline. The planning commission applies the law during its approval process.
“Staff suggests the Commission request the applicant revise the project design to comply with the Height of Buildings Act and return to NCPC for final approval,” the 185-page report says.
Applying the law “would require design revisions to redistribute the height between the main structure, habitable roof structure and statuary,” the report said. But even with the recommended revisions, the arch, a public observation deck and three gilded topper statues would still reach Trump’s desired 250-foot height, the report said.
The staff is also recommending that commissioners seek additional information about vehicular traffic around the arch, the proposed granite exterior and other aspects of the project before the Interior Department, which oversees the park service, returns for final approval. Trump wants to build the arch on a traffic circle on the Virginia side of the Memorial Bridge from the District of Columbia.
Commissioners heard a summary of the staff report and its recommendations and were hearing from about 40 people who signed up to testify about the project. Many cited the proposed location near the hallowed burial ground of Arlington National Cemetery in their opposition.
The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a separate federal agency, approved the design for the arch in May. The National Capital Planning Commission oversees construction on federal land in the city and began reviewing the arch plan in June.
Opponents of the project argue that the arch is too big for the skyline and would disrupt carefully designed views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery that were meant to symbolize the reunification of the North and the South after the Civil War.
But the opposition has done little to influence the members of either commission, both of which include some of Trump’s closest allies. Trump appointed Will Scharf, a top White House aide, to lead the planning commission.
A group of veterans and a historian have sued the Trump administration in federal court to block the arch construction over concerns about disruptions to the sightline.
The arch would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet tall, and close to half the height of the Washington Monument, at about 555 feet tall.
Trump had said last year that the arch could be paid for with unused funds from the hundreds of millions of dollars he said he has raised from corporations, donors and other wealthy people to pay to build a new $400 million ballroom at the White House.
But, as it turns out, some public money will be used for the ballroom project, as well as the arch. The White House has not released a cost estimate for the arch.
