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Thomas J. Ellis

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For other people with the same name, see Thomas Ellis.
Thomas J. Ellis
Member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners
In office
January 7, 2004 – January 7, 2008
Preceded byMichael Marino
Succeeded byBruce Castor
Personal details
Political partyRepublican Party
ResidenceElkins Park, Pennsylvania
Alma materUniversity of Pennsylvania (BA, JD)[1]

Thomas Jay "Tom" Ellis (born 14 July 1959, Abington, Pennsylvania) is a Pennsylvania public finance attorney. He served several terms as county commissioner of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, one of the largest counties in Pennsylvania, before being dropped from the ticket during an intra-party feud. An ally of controversial Republican National Committeeman Bob Asher, he is a prominent figure in the Pennsylvania Republican Party.[2]

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He earned a degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982.[3] He earned a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1985, where he was Editor of University of Pennsylvania Law Review.[3] As special counsel with Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll in Philadelphia, he handles public finance and higher education legal issues.[3] Specifically, his legal works focuses on facilitating tax-exempt financing projects for local governments and municipal authorities.[4] He also manages the firm's lobbying on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.[3]

Political career

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From 1990 to 2002, he served as a member of the Cheltenham Township Board of Commissioners.[3] In 2001, he was appointed as a board member of SEPTA.[3]

He was first elected as a county commissioner in Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 2003 as running mate with Jim Matthews.[5] He was chair of the county commissioners' board from 2006 through 2008.[3]

2008 election and scandal

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In the 2008 election, Ellis was dropped from the Republican ticket because of an incident with former fiancée who filed and then withdrew a protection from abuse order against him.[6] As a result, Ellis was unable to secure the county GOP's endorsement for a second four-year term in 2007. While Ellis denied physically abusing her, he did publicly apologize to her at a county commissioners meeting. Ellis unsuccessfully attempted to obtain the Republican nomination independent of the party apparatus, losing to Bruce Castor and Jim Matthews.[6]

In 2008, he was the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania Treasurer.[7] He was endorsed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, whose editorial board praised his "good credentials" and his "interesting ideas" on campaign finance reform and for his plans to improve Pennsylvania's college tuition savings program.[4] During the campaign, he made a campaign promise not to pursue political ambitions beyond the Treasurer's position.[4] Democrat Robert McCord outspent Ellis significantly in the race.[8] He lost the election to McCord by a significant margin.[9][10]

2010 harassment charges

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On April 13, 2010, Montgomery County Web editor Marina Bradley accused Ellis of threatening her job. Bradley, who had recently broke off her relationship with Ellis, alleged that Ellis made multiple phone calls to Bradley, including some to her county office, and sent multiple e-mails to her.

Montgomery County commissioners were advised of the accusation in a closed-door meeting. Shortly afterward, solicitor Barry M. Miller confirmed that Ellis violating the agreement restrictions and allegedly tried to contact Bradley again by phone when he learned the commissioners had been briefed. Ellis denies contacting Bradley.

Asked to respond to the allegations in the complaint, Ellis responded by e-mail, stating, "Any comment would have to come from Bev Jackson as I can't violate Marina's confidentiality. Can tell you case was closed without consequence?"

However, Ellis, releasing a letter Monday evening that he sent Saturday to county Chief Operating Officer Robert W. Graf, denies violating the agreement. The letter, in part, states: "As for Ms. Bradley and myself, that case was amicably closed April 1 and never violated by either party. As I told Ms. Jackson, I did mistakenly dial Ms. Bradley on her cell when trying to call someone with a very close number and I dialed too quickly...after four years, it was an old habit. Nothing was said and I immediately hung up when I realized my mistake. That happened one time in a month. I have said nothing to Ms. Bradley nor seen her in or out of the county workplace."[11][12]

When asked if he would call for the treasurer's resignation, Montgomery County commissioner Joe Hoeffel said he was still looking into the matter. "I'm waiting to get more information from our staff," he said. "I'm very troubled by it."[13]

Run for chair of Montgomery County Republican Party

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In May 2018, Ellis started an attempted run for Chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party. Ellis was opposed by a Liz Preate and eventually withdrew from consideration. The opposition to Ellis according to the Philadelphia Inquirer was based upon the 2008 election scandal and the 2010 Harassment scandal outlined above. In his defense, Ellis stated to the Philadelphia Inquirer that he had "long ago apologized (for his behavior in the scandals), redeemed himself, and had only the party's best interests at heart.".[14]

SEPTA Board

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Ellis has served on the SEPTA board on three occasions. First as a Montgomery County appointee from 2001 to 2011, when he resigned in the wake of charges of workplace harassment.[15][16] Second as an appointee of Republican governor Tom Corbett from 2011 to 2015.[16][17] His third stint came when appointed to the board by the Republican PA Senate Majority Leader in 2021.[18]

DVREDF scandal

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In July 2018 Ellis was listed as a defendant in an action alleging misuse of public funds by the Delaware Valley Regional Economic Development Fund (DVREDF) filed by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission for Ellis' alleged role in running the Delaware Valley Regional Economic Development Fund as a member of its board of directors.[19][20] Ellis, along with other board members, is accused of breach of fiduciary obligations at paragraph 66 of the Complaint.[21] The PUC complaint at paragraph 73 also cites an article by Ryan Briggs of City and State PA which alleges that: ... "[W]hat the [DVREDF] does, besides throw money at consultants and other dubious expenses, is a mystery. Its website hasn't been updated in six years. The phone number listed goes to an answering service inside a property manager's office downtown. And its executive director and board members – all Fumo cronies – dodged multiple press inquiries."[22]

References

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  1. ^ "Our Campaigns - Candidate - Thomas J. Ellis".
  2. ^ Neri, Al (March 2007). "Watching Montgomery". The Insider. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Thomas Jay Ellis - Special Counsel". www.ballardspahr.com. Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ a b c "Ellis for treasurer: The Republican has experience and a steady hand". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. October 5, 2008.
  5. ^ Neri, Al (December 2002). "Montgomery County Commissioners Race". The Insider. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  6. ^ a b Neri, Al (February 2007). "Special Report on Montco". The Insider. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12.
  7. ^ "2008 General Primary - State Treasure". Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information. Pennsylvania Department of State. 2004. Archived from the original on 2008-11-26.
  8. ^ Neri, Al (October 2008). "Low-key contests". The Insider. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24.
  9. ^ "2008 General Election- State Treasurer". Commonwealth of PA - Elections Information. Pennsylvania Department of State. 2004.
  10. ^ "Our Campaigns - PA Treasurer Race - Nov 04, 2008".
  11. ^ Montgomery County Worker Charges Ellis with Harassment[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Montgomery County employee goes on record against treasurer
  13. ^ Harassment complaint to air Thursday Archived 2012-02-25 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "A Republican with a #metoo problem provokes a bloody battle for control of Montgomery County's GOP. It's ugly | Maria Panaritis". Philly.com. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  15. ^ "Metropolitan Area News in Brief." Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA), August 24, 2001: B02. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&docref=news/0EF1B96525F308A7 .
  16. ^ a b writer, Margaret GibbonsStaff. "Ellis off, on SEPTA Board". The Intelligencer. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  17. ^ "Wolf taps Rep. Evans for SEPTA board". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  18. ^ "SEPTA | Board Members". www.septa.org. Retrieved 2021-02-26.
  19. ^ "Pa. cites Philly nonprofit for improper use of Peco customer funds". Philly.com. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  20. ^ "PUC - Press Releases". www.puc.pa.gov. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  21. ^ PA PUC, PA PUC (2018-07-17). "Complaint PA PUC vs DVREDF, Ellis et al" (PDF). PA PUC.
  22. ^ "Fumo-connected nonprofit hoards millions skimmed from PECO customers". City & State PA. 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
Political offices
Preceded by Member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners
2003–2008 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Republican nominee for Treasurer of Pennsylvania
2008 		Succeeded by
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