Pennsylvania's new Republican auditor general, Timothy DeFoor, won't commit to saying November's election was fair — with one notable exception. 

“I believe my election was fair,” DeFoor recently told state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) at a state House hearing. “As far as anybody else’s election, that’s a conversation that you would have to have with them, but I haven’t heard any complaints with regards to my specific election.”

DeFoor won his statewide race by three points in November, becoming Pennsylvania's first elected row officer of color and the first Republican in decades to fill the auditor general role.

Pressed on his comment by Spotlight PA, a spokesperson from DeFoor’s office called it a “personal view” and declined to elaborate.

THE CONTEXT: Despite significant down-ballot victories in Pennsylvania, state GOP leaders have continued to question the integrity of November's election, which culminated in former President Donald Trump's loss and a torrent of unsubstantiated election fraud claims fueling deep suspicion within the Republican base.

Now, at least one GOP line of inquiry could fall to DeFoor himself. Sen. Bob Mensch (R., Montgomery) said he’ll introduce a bill requiring DeFoor’s office to audit "the processes by which each county handled their elections" in 2020. 

DeFoor's spokesperson added by email: “Because the department may yet be asked to become involved in an official capacity, he must maintain his independence and has no further comment."

» If you learned something from today's edition, pay it forward and become a member of Spotlight PA so someone else can tomorrow.

POWER QUESTIONS: Could what happened to Texas' power grid happen here in Pennsylvania? It's unlikely, the company that monitors the state's grid told The Morning Call, as its "power plants are built for freezing temperatures and winterized."

ZERO CONVICTIONS: A corruption and bribery case involving the controversial Mariner East pipeline project was touted as an accountability breakthrough in some energy and legal circles. More than a year later and it's poised to end without a single criminal conviction, The Inquirer reports. As the case concludes, work continues on the cross-state shale gas pipeline, which could be fully operational later this year. Neighbors told Spotlight PA last year they had no idea what to do in the event of an accident.

'NO REGRETS': A Lebanon County police officer charged with taking part in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol allegedly said he had "no regrets" about his actions in a Facebook message, Slate reports. The department that employs Joseph Fischer said he has been suspended without pay. 

VOTAR: More needs to be done to support Pennsylvania's Spanish-speaking voters, officials say, with some counties failing to meet language protections under the Voting Rights Act — 40 years after those protections were added. Almost 60,000 voting-age, Spanish-speaking Pennsylvanians are not guaranteed translated materials or interpreters at the polls because of where they live, WITF reports.

NEW ENTRY: State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta has joined the 2022 U.S. Senate race. The progressive Philadelphia lawmaker is the third Democrat to formally declare he's seeking the party's nod for Pat Toomey's seat. Kenyatta is the first openly LGBTQ person of color to be elected to the Pennsylvania legislature, arriving in Harrisburg on 2018's "Rainbow Wave," and the Capital-Star reports he begins his Senate bid with powerful endorsements in hand.