Gov. Rendell's top lawyer said yesterday she has resigned from her job to avoid any appearance of conflict as she and two other plaintiffs sue to halt Pennsylvania State University's plan to build a second law school campus.
Gov. Rendell's top lawyer said yesterday she has resigned from her job to avoid any appearance of conflict as she and two other plaintiffs sue to halt Pennsylvania State University's plan to build a second law school campus.
Leslie Anne Miller said she resigned voluntarily on Wednesday evening, citing "ongoing attacks in the press" concerning her role as Rendell's general counsel. She is also a member of the governing board of Penn State's Dickinson School of Law.
Miller was named general counsel after Rendell was elected governor in 2002.
"I thought it was important that they be stopped and that both the lawsuit and, equally importantly, the Office of General Counsel, be free of the appearance of conflict... and that I be free to go about the business of being a plaintiff without further harassment," she said.
Rendell is trying to secure a long-term commitment from Penn State to keep the Dickinson Law School's original campus in Carlisle under the two-campus plan. His spokeswoman, Kate Philips, said he accepted Miller's resignation reluctantly.
"The governor said a week or two ago that if, as the lawsuit progressed, it appears there was a conflict of interest, he would accept her resignation. He was hopeful that there wouldn't be," she said.
The lawsuit seeks to prevent the dissolution of Dickinson's board of governors, which would occur by Aug. 1 under Penn State's plan to build a second law school campus in State College. A judge in Carlisle is scheduled to resume a hearing tomorrow on a preliminary injunction to block the plan.
The plaintiffs - Miller; her father, G. Thomas Miller; and emeritus board member Tom Monteverde - were among the dissenting votes when Dickinson's board voted, 17-14, to accept Penn State's proposal on Jan. 15.
Established in 1834, Dickinson has been largely under Penn State's control since a merger was completed in 2000.
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