Pa. Treasurer McCord Resigns Amid Talk of Federal Probe

Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord resigned late Friday, effective immediately, as news reports swirled that he will plead guilty to charges of threatening would-be campaign contributors with the loss of state business.

"Confirmed," Gary Tuma, his communications director, said of the resignation.

McCord late Thursday in a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf that said he would resign effective Feb. 12, but made his exit immediate amid a media firestorm.

"I stepped over the line," McCord said in a video statement emailed to media by his defense team from Welsh & Recker PC, the Morning Call reported. The newspaper reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is coordinating the investigation out of its Harrisburg office. A call to that office went unanswered.

McCord, treasurer for six years, lost to Wolf in last year's gubernatorial primary.

"This is not a matter on which the Treasury Department can comment," Tuma said in a statement earlier Friday. "Treasury routinely receives investigatory subpoenas or requests for documents from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies. It has been the department's policy to cooperate with and fully respond to all law enforcement inquiries, and to honor the confidentiality of any such inquiry."

In his letter to Wolf, McCord cited accomplishments over six years including the repair of a "severely underfunded" college savings plan, improving operational efficiencies within his department, helping reduce the risk and increasing the return on a variety of state investment portfolios, and modernizing the state's information technology and payment systems with a project that came in 20% under budget.

McCord appointed Christopher Craig, the department's chief counsel and former acting chief of staff, to serve in the interim role.

"Treasurer Rob McCord has honorably and diligently served the people of Pennsylvania," Wolf said in a statement. "In the past six years, Treasurer McCord has saved our commonwealth over a billion dollars."

McCord's resignation is the latest controversy to rock the Keystone State. On Jan .21, a grand jury recommended that state Attorney General Kathleen Kane face charges of perjury and abusing the authority of her office, according to court documents released. The investigation related to allegations that someone in Kane's office leaked grand jury material as payback against her critics.