Two scandals confronting our state, in our view, converge on one underlying issue.

A state senator from Allentown has noted that in 2024 alone, Gov. Josh Shapiro spent at least $300,000 in tax dollars on flights.

While that cost by itself should concern Pennsylvanians worried about the fiscal future of their state, there is a possibility — perhaps even a likelihood — that the actual cost was higher.

“The data provided by PennDOT is woefully inadequate,” Sen. Jarrett Coleman said, according to The Center Square report. “The PennDOT logs are full of inaccuracies and omissions. These errors mask the true use of the airplane and thwart a comprehensive evaluation of their use.”

Coleman notes he and his staff have attempted to use documentation of Shapiro’s public appearances along with flight paths and other data to assemble a more detailed look at the governor’s travels.

We appreciate the lawmaker’s efforts to hold our state’s chief executive accountable and are alarmed that it has to come to this — which brings us to our second scandal.

According to another report by The Center Square’s Christen Smith, the governor’s office deleted internal emails chronicling allegations that a member of Shapiro’s cabinet engaged in sexual harassment and retaliatory behavior.

Those allegations already led to a $295,000 settlement, and an attorney warns The Center Square that the deletion of the relevant emails may violate state law and provoke further costs.

The common thread in these two scandals are that Shapiro and his top advisers seem to have little more than contempt for the principles of transparency and accountability.

A spokesperson for Shapiro went so far as to call questions about his excessive spending on flights — which Coleman noted included flights to Major League and college football games — “bad faith attacks.”

We do not believe it is a “bad faith attack” to expect an elected official to be transparent on how he or she spends tax dollars on their own personal luxuries. We certainly do not believe it is a “bad faith attack” to retain the evidence of grave wrong-doing by a state official so that voters can reach informed conclusions about their conduct.