Does Josh Shapiro Have a Secrecy Problem?

I want Josh Shapiro to succeed. As a centrist Pennsylvanian who voted for him over woefully out-of-his-depth Doug Mastriano back in 2022, I see a governor who could help lead the disorganized Democrats out of the wilderness. His pragmatic style, ability to work across the aisle, and Obama-lite rhetorical style make him exactly the kind of moderate leader the party needs for its future.

The latest example cuts deep. When President Biden's health became a national concern, Shapiro had a front-row seat to the decline but kept quiet. Now a new tell-all book from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson reveals that senior Democrats, including those in Shapiro's orbit, knew far more about Biden's cognitive struggles than they admitted. Shapiro's shifting story on Biden's condition, from insisting everything was fine to pivoting only after the debate disaster,  doesn't just look bad. It undermines the very trust he'll need if he wants to lead nationally.

Look, I get it. Party loyalty matters. But so does credibility, and Shapiro is burning through his at an alarming rate with a pattern of secrecy that threatens to define his governorship.

Then there's the $350,000 in taxpayer money spent on private law firms. The heavily redacted invoices his office released tell us nothing about why this money was spent. Maybe there's a perfectly good reason. Maybe it's routine government business. But when you black out all the relevant information, you force people to assume the worst. For a governor who promised to "get sh*t done," this looks less like efficiency and more like evasion.

The secret "Climate Change Working Group" that operated for five months without public knowledge stings, too. Climate policy is a huge issue here in Pennsylvania, given the various industries impacted by it, and doing this sort of thing in darkness undermines the very coalition-building necessary to make it work for both the energy sector and the environmentalists. You can't claim to be bringing people together while literally meeting behind closed doors.

His secret negotiations with major campaign donors on union contracts that included 22% salary increases make even supporters wince. I'm pro-union, but this kind of backroom dealing feeds cynicism about government. It's not about the policy outcome – it's about the process that makes it look like government is for sale to the highest campaign contributor.

Small things add up too. Unlike Tom Wolf, Shapiro won't release his daily calendar. Why? What possible reason could there be for hiding your official schedule? It's such an unforced error, creating suspicion where none needs to exist.

The secrecy started before day one. Requiring transition and inauguration teams to sign NDAs? Refusing to disclose inauguration donors when previous governors did so routinely? These aren't state secrets – they're basic transparency measures that build public trust. By keeping them secret, he's telling us he values control over openness.

Even something as routine as releasing a database of certified police officers becomes a fight with this administration. In an era when police accountability is a bipartisan concern, denying journalists basic oversight tools looks defensive and out of touch.

What makes this pattern especially maddening is that we know Shapiro can do better – because he has. As attorney general, he showed exactly the kind of front-and-center leadership we need. Take the Hawbaker case, where he pursued a crooked construction company that stole $20 million in wages from workers. He didn't handle it quietly or cut backroom deals. He prosecuted it in the public eye, held press conferences, and made sure everyone knew that wage theft wouldn't be tolerated in Pennsylvania. That's the Josh Shapiro who inspired confidence, using transparency as a tool for justice rather than treating the spotlight like a threat.

I worry about what this means for his future. Shapiro is frequently mentioned as presidential material, someone who could unite the party's wings and appeal to swing voters. But if he can't break this secrecy habit, he's building a glass ceiling over his own ambitions. Presidential campaigns involve exponentially more scrutiny. Every hidden donor, every deleted email, every redacted document will be weaponized by opponents and create doubts among allies.

The Obama comparisons Shapiro cultivates make this worse. Obama understood that transparency wasn't just good government – it was good politics. He released White House visitor logs, held regular pressers, and at least tried to embody the openness he preached. Shapiro seems to have learned all the wrong lessons, appropriating Obama's stump-speech aesthetics while governing with unnecessary opacity.

The Biden health situation is particularly damaging because it goes to character. When you have information voters deserve about a debilitated president's rapidly-declining fitness for office, sitting on it isn't loyalty – it's a betrayal of public trust. Shapiro could have found a way to be honest without being disloyal. Instead, he chose the path that now makes people wonder what else he might hide when politically convenient.

None of this is irreparable. Shapiro could tomorrow announce a transparency initiative, release the redacted documents, publish his calendar, and commit to real openness. He could turn this weakness into a strength by acknowledging the problem and fixing it. That would take political courage, but isn't that exactly what we need from our leaders?

I remain bullish on Josh Shapiro's potential. His work on economic development, his ability to manage divided government, his communication skills, his record as the state’s attorney  general – these are real assets that shouldn't be squandered. But potential means nothing if it's undermined by self-inflicted wounds.

Shapiro likes to say he's focused on "getting sh*t done." But transparency isn't a distraction from governing – it's an essential part of it. We deserve to see both sides of his face, not just the carefully managed public persona of a one-eyed jack.  That's not an unreasonable ask from supporters who want to propel him to the next level. It's the minimum requirement for anyone who hopes to lead in an era when trust in government is already dangerously low.

Oliver Bateman is a historian and journalist based in Pittsburgh. He blogs, vlogs, and podcasts at his Substack, Oliver Bateman Does the Work.