Daryl Metcalfe

An office of state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, apparently used for legislative business and storage, has become a target of critics and political opponents who claim the monthly lease payment is a sign of impropriety.

Metcalfe said Tuesday that he and his staff use the office, located at The Johnston House in Adams Township, as an extension of the district office in Cranberry Township. He added, however, that the Adams location is not used for constituent services, instead being used for legislative business and storage.

“We've never had enough space to do all I wanted to do,” he said. “We've always needed more space since pretty well the first day I moved into Cranberry.”

A copy of the lease with Cranberry Township notes the office is approximately 582 square feet.

But Metcalfe's political opponents allege that the office does not exist, that it should be open to the public, or that it is a misuse of taxpayer funds.

“This recent revelation with the added fact the story from Metcalfe is continually evolving from satellite office to now storage space continues to cast doubt about his character and integrity,” write-in challenger Scott Timko said. “It is his reputation for low marks in both those areas why I challenged him in the first place, and why I'm continuing with my write-in campaign to give voters a Republican choice they can be proud of.”

Expense reports from the state House of Representatives show that Metcalfe has paid $475 monthly to The Johnston House out of state coffers since at least January 2017.

Other line items in the report indicate that staff have traveled to and from The Johnston House on numerous occasions, but the expense reports do not specifically indicate which staffer traveled where.

Metcalfe said he used to rent space for legislative and storage purposes from a self-storage facility where, he said, staffers would set up makeshift desks. That was not possible in the winter, he added, so he later rented space on Route 8 for that purpose.

The representative said the Adams Township location was available for half the price of the Route 8 site, so he rented the space there.

Daniel Smith, Metcalfe's Democratic opponent in 2018 and 2020, argued that his use of that space for a non-public office flies in the face of Metcalfe's small-government-proponent image.

“Our (Cranberry Township's) municipal building is the best in the area,” Smith said. “If he was so fiscally diligent with our tax dollars, would it have been a more responsible decision to acquire said space from there and give our dollars back to the township?”

Metcalfe said he has had the office for “years,” adding that it was supposed to be “more of a legislative space, not open to walk-in traffic.”

“It's where we could handle the phones,” he said.

A copy of Metcalfe's lease with The Johnston House was not immediately provided in response to an open records request.