In two recent dismissals or demotions of Pennsylvania officials by Gov. Tom Wolf, arguments against those actions centered on the idea that the government agencies at hand should be independent from the executive branch. But that also raised the question of which offices require insulation from the governor's influence.

A four-judge majority of the Commonwealth Court recently said in its decision in Arneson v. Wolf that the Office of Open Records is “inherently independent from the executive branch,” and the executive director of that office could not be removed without cause. Erik Arneson has been reinstated to that position as a result, but the case is on appeal at the state Supreme Court level.

Bill Green, former chairman of the School Reform Commission, may have made a similar argument, had he chosen to sue over his removal from the position of chairman. According to documents from a lawsuit that was never filed, from a source familiar with the dispute, Green's counsel would have argued the SRC members, including the chairman, “were to be insulated from political pressure.”