Nicole Moyer, a procurement specialist with the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, filed a federal lawsuit against Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration last week for bypassing procurement requirements meant to protect the use of taxpayer dollars, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The complaint outlines the $33 million in security upgrades at the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, which include a 10-foot brick wall topped with anti-climb spikes (cost: $14 million), windows in the process of being equipped with bulletproof glass (cost: $8 million), and motion detectors, lighting improvements, and updated cameras throughout the property (cost: $6.3 million).
The lawsuit says the Shapiro administration “waived competitive bid requirements after purchases were made, split transactions to bypass the threshold requiring a bidding process, and kept paying a security contractor who no longer provided service”, The Inquirer wrote, noting that a spokesperson for Shapiro rejected those claims.
Moyer claims that she was fired in March after she repeatedly raised concerns about the “waste and wrongdoing”. Rosie Lapowsky, Shapiro’s press secretary, said in a statement that the allegations “by a disgruntled former employee who was dismissed from her position” are “totally and completely false.”
The renovations stem from an arson attack on April 13, 2025. The Shapiros were unharmed and the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire extinguished the fire, which caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence. Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated arson, and terrorism offenses for setting the fire.
In September 2025, Spotlight PA reported that the Shapiro administration had spent more than $6 million in public dollars for repairs over the previous four months.
In February, Shapiro’s neighbors in Abington Township filed a federal lawsuit involving roughly $1 million in security upgrades, including window replacements, landscaping, security system installation, and more. Jeremy and Simone Mock, who filed the 11-page suit and whose property is adjacent to the Shapiros’, accused the governor and his wife, Lori, of illegally occupying part of their yard to build an eight-foot security fence.
The Shapiros filed a countersuit in which they asked a judge to declare that the property is theirs.
Those lawsuits are ongoing, The Inquirer said.
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