Legislators propose new Capitol ethics commission

HARRISBURG - After years of scandals in the Capitol, a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to create a state Public Integrity Commission with the power to investigate public officials and employees, and recommend criminal charges.

The commission, or PIC as it is being called, would employ trained law-enforcement officers to hunt down corruption "at all levels and in all three branches of government," said State Rep. Curt Schroder (R., Chester), a prime sponsor of legislation to create the commission. The body would also send annual reports to the legislature with recommendations for legislative or administrative changes.

More important, Schroder said, it could subpoena witnesses and documents, seek immunity orders to obtain information from people who invoked their Fifth Amendment right to silence, and refer suspected crimes to state or federal law enforcement authorities.

"Public corruption is nothing new in Pennsylvania," Schroder said at a news conference Tuesday in the Capitol, flanked by a dozen other legislators and activists.

"In fact, evidence of it can be found throughout our history," he said. "While the nature of offenses may have changed over the years, the motivation and impact remain the same: The offending public officials gain wealth and power, while the people who elected them lose their hard-earned money and their sense of trust in the people they elected to serve them."

To form the commission, a nominating committee would submit names of 15 potential commissioners. The governor would appoint seven from that list, subject to Senate approval. No more than three could be from one political party.

"This prevents the commission from being an officially partisan body," said Tim Potts, founder of the activist group Democracy Rising Pennsylvania and a onetime legislative staffer. "I've been around long enough to know that partisanship is ingrained in this government."

Sponsors estimated the commission's cost at $4 million and $5 million a year, and proposed to finance it via an independent funding stream: In 2009, the legislature established an $11.25 surcharge for certain court filings. That surcharge expires next year, but the bill's sponsors want to extend it and use $2 of every $11.25 to pay for the commission.

The bill is hardly the first effort at raising the Capitol's integrity standards. The State Ethics Commission was created in 1978. The U.S. Attorney's Office, state Attorney General's Office, and district attorneys around the state prosecute corruption cases. The so-called Bonusgate scandal that has rocked the legislature for several years began when newspaper articles prompted a state grand-jury investigation under the aegis of the state attorney general.

So, does Harrisburg need another watchdog? Schroder's response: Absolutely.

He said the Ethics Commission's duties would essentially be folded into the new commission's. He remarked that sometimes when high-profile investigations and trials end - and the heat is off - people tend to return to old ways.

"This will ensure constant oversight - an entity constantly looking over our shoulders," he said.

Schroder's bill has several Democratic cosponsors, including State Rep. Josh Shapiro of Montgomery County. Its Senate backers include Ted Erickson (R., Delaware). But its legislative course is far from mapped out.

The legislature has traditionally been slow to institute ethics-related changes. The Bonusgate grand jury issued a scathing report last year, saying the legislature was stuck in a "time warp" of corruption and proposing a long list of reforms.