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Scandal not an abberation, but a loud cry for reform
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If anything is as disturbing as two grand juries’ allegations of corruption within the General Assembly, it is rank-and-file members’ tolerance for the culture of privilege and power that fostered the allegedly criminal conduct.
A few senators and representatives have condemned that culture and several have called for long overdue measures to exterminate it.
Monday, Reps. Chris King and John Galloway, both Democrats from Bucks County, called for a referendum in November on whether to conduct a constitutional convention in 2009. Delegates to the convention also would be elected in November.
A constitutional convention is just one of the many reforms that lawmakers have evaded for the entire course of the current session. For example, a bill to mandate a constitutional convention was introduced in January and has gone nowhere. This version of the General Assembly, remember, was elected with a sweeping mandate for reform after the pay raise fiasco of 2005 revealed widespread abuses of power and a disregard for the state constitution as a matter of routine.
Thursday in Harrisburg, Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, Republican of Dauphin County, put the question of reform directly to lawmakers when he called for a special session on the government’s — the Legislature’s — integrity. The purpose of such a session would be to tackle many of the reforms that lawmakers have evaded.
Several lawmakers quickly condemned the idea as grandstanding and predicted that nothing would result from such a session. Yet the lawmakers themselves determine what happens during special sessions; they are not hapless bystanders.
The need for vast reform was obvious even before Attorney General Tom Corbett brought charges against former Democratic House Whip Mike Veon, current Rep. Sean Ramaley, and 10 current and former legislative staffers. Charges against them are not vastly different in scope from some of those brought earlier against powerful Democratic Sen. Vince Fumo of Philadelphia and former Republican Rep. Jeff Habay of Allegheny County. They all involved the use of publicly funded resources for personal or political gain.
Lawmakers’ lack of interest in reform cannot be traced to a lack of proposals. The problem is that many lawmakers actively have resisted key reforms in order to preserve their own advantages and political power.
Foremost among the neglected or rejected reforms are several of those that would have the most immediate and pervasive impacts on the Legislature.
Lawmakers never seriously considered proposals to reduce the size of the Legislature, thus ensuring that Pennsylvania continues to have the largest and most costly full-time legislature of any state. It also ensures that a large number of lawmakers are along for the ride rather than generating ideas to move the state forward.
Local lawmakers should endorse the call for a special session on integrity and also sign on to the effort to conduct a constitutional convention. The recent scandals are not aberrations, but loud cries for reform.
A few senators and representatives have condemned that culture and several have called for long overdue measures to exterminate it.
Monday, Reps. Chris King and John Galloway, both Democrats from Bucks County, called for a referendum in November on whether to conduct a constitutional convention in 2009. Delegates to the convention also would be elected in November.
A constitutional convention is just one of the many reforms that lawmakers have evaded for the entire course of the current session. For example, a bill to mandate a constitutional convention was introduced in January and has gone nowhere. This version of the General Assembly, remember, was elected with a sweeping mandate for reform after the pay raise fiasco of 2005 revealed widespread abuses of power and a disregard for the state constitution as a matter of routine.
Thursday in Harrisburg, Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, Republican of Dauphin County, put the question of reform directly to lawmakers when he called for a special session on the government’s — the Legislature’s — integrity. The purpose of such a session would be to tackle many of the reforms that lawmakers have evaded.
Several lawmakers quickly condemned the idea as grandstanding and predicted that nothing would result from such a session. Yet the lawmakers themselves determine what happens during special sessions; they are not hapless bystanders.
The need for vast reform was obvious even before Attorney General Tom Corbett brought charges against former Democratic House Whip Mike Veon, current Rep. Sean Ramaley, and 10 current and former legislative staffers. Charges against them are not vastly different in scope from some of those brought earlier against powerful Democratic Sen. Vince Fumo of Philadelphia and former Republican Rep. Jeff Habay of Allegheny County. They all involved the use of publicly funded resources for personal or political gain.
Lawmakers’ lack of interest in reform cannot be traced to a lack of proposals. The problem is that many lawmakers actively have resisted key reforms in order to preserve their own advantages and political power.
Foremost among the neglected or rejected reforms are several of those that would have the most immediate and pervasive impacts on the Legislature.
Lawmakers never seriously considered proposals to reduce the size of the Legislature, thus ensuring that Pennsylvania continues to have the largest and most costly full-time legislature of any state. It also ensures that a large number of lawmakers are along for the ride rather than generating ideas to move the state forward.
Local lawmakers should endorse the call for a special session on integrity and also sign on to the effort to conduct a constitutional convention. The recent scandals are not aberrations, but loud cries for reform.
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