It’s troubling.

The decision by Gov. Josh Shapiro and several of his top staffers to accept Super Bowl tickets from a nonprofit that accepts millions in tax dollars should raise questions about the potential for favoritism and the ability of the governor’s office to act impartially and with discernment in the future.

Shapiro and his staff accepting the tickets despite a policy that, as Spotlight PA reported recently, prohibits Shapiro and executive branch staff from accepting “tickets to recreational events such as football games” raises concerns about whether such policies are sincere attempts to improve governance in Pennsylvania.

The efforts of the Shapiro administration to rationalize the decision to accept the tickets because Team Pennsylvania, the nonprofit has a “decades-long history of collaborating with the state” raises fears that any effort to require standards and rules for ethical conduct will be riddled with loopholes and, frankly, excuses.

And it should be troubling to all Pennsylvanians that such questions, concerns and fears about whether our governor and his staff are truly committed to ethical conduct arise so early in his tenure. His term only began a little over a month ago.

We hope that Shapiro can see how this can be perceived, how this is an error of judgement. We hope he reconsiders his administration’s position, reimburses Team Pennsylvania for the nonprofit’s gift and commits to tougher, better enforcement of the gift ban in the next three years and 11 months.

The people of Pennsylvania — particularly his voters — deserve better.