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Gov. Tom Wolf's office is being accused by some dissident House Deomcrats of special treatment on constituent requests for their March budget votes with the House's Republican majority. A Wolf spokesman said no services are being witheld.

(PennLive.com, file)

A group of House Democrats who broke with Gov. Tom Wolf on the state budget impasse last month are now asserting they are being politically bullied by Wolf's office for their fiscal independence.

The lawmakers voiced their complaints in a letter to Wolf, and in a closed-door caucus with their colleagues Tuesday.

In the letter, a copy of which was shared with PennLive, the members explained their budget vote - which was believed to be a key to Wolf's March 23 decision to accept the budget package after nine months of fighting.

And they stated they want to continue to work with the first-term governor to help achieve his aims of increased school funding and fixing the state's structural budget deficit.

But they also said they are alarmed by recent decisions by the administration - the letter does not specify the decision-maker - to have their requests for help with certain constituent services redirected to the governor's legislative affairs office for special handling.

The members concluded by asking Wolf to end the special treatment, and that all other "thoughts of retribution be put aside so that we can move forward together."

The complaint was first reported Wednesday by The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Because of the hour, however, and the fact that most lawmakers were leaving town at the end of the session week, none of the 10 signatories could be immediately reached for comment.

There is a long tradition in Harrisburg of lawmakers helping constituents with all manner of government services. Legislative staff usually works directly with the agency or department involved, not the governor's office.

The members' letter did not specify what services are involved.

Wolf's Press Secretary Jeff Sheridan acknowledged receipt of the members' letter Wednesday night, but denied a specific plan to "punish" the Democrats in question - or their constituents - for breaking with governor on their vote.

"We are operating in the same manner we always have," Sheridan said.

But he also made clear the administration isn't yet ready to forget about the March budget defections, which created real concern about Wolf's ability to sustain a veto on the budget closure package when 13 Democrats voted with the Republican majority.

"They (those members) have to answer to their constituents for their vote, and they made a bad choice... in the name of just trying to end the budget impasse," Sheridan said.

Several of the Democratic members, in March, said they broke with Wolf because they were not willing to let their local schools close in the middle of the academic year over 2015-16 budget goals that were no longer practical.

There is a long tradition of enforcing party discipline at the Capitol, but in the past such punishments have been meted out through committee assignments, office locations, or even parking.

Governors, meanwhile, have the power to steer grants to certain areas or programs.

But the genesis of this complaint - constituent services - seemed to catch some observers by surprise.

"If we had done something like that in the Corbett Administration, they'd have been chasing us with pitchforks," said Dennis Roddy, a top staffer to former Gov. Tom Corbett, when reached Wednesday evening.

Other House Democrats said they were disappointed to hear about the potential retaliation at Tuesday's caucus, while stressing they had only heard the members' side of the story.

"It bothers me that this could be hurting the voters," said one member who agreed to talk about the meeting on condition of anonymity because of the tradition against disclosing caucus discussions.

"If you have differences, talk them out. Let it affect the member. But not the people," the member said.

Democratic caucus leaders, the member said, suggested Tuesday they would be reaching out to the governor's office to try to work for a truce.

That much was confirmed by Bill Patton, spokesman for House Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny County. "As always, Democratic leadership is making sure that all of our members get the help they need from the administration."