Lawmaker collecting funds for colleague behind bars

From today's paper, an example of the nuanced relationships of state lawmakers as their colleagues have headed to prison.

Republican state Rep. Garth Everett succeeded friend and ex-lawmaker Brett Feese in representing a Lycoming County district in 2007.

Feese is now at SCI-Waymart, one of soon-to-be eight ex-lawmakers who are imprisoned for crimes related to their official duties.

Everett emailed the House Republican caucus this week, asking if any of their colleagues wanted to chip in for a Christmas donation to Feese's inmate account.

Some have already sent him checks, Everett said in an interview, noting that a number of lawmakers had asked how they could help their former coworker.

"It is what it is," he said in an interview. "We have some former members in jail. That doesn't mean they're not people."