John Baer: Pa. Legislature: Too bad, so sad
HOW BAD IS the Pennsylvania Legislature? So bad, they're talking about it in Washington. The Brookings Institution, the oldest think tank in America, a centrist (leaning left) nonprofit, almost always referred to as "the prestigious" Brookings, held a daylong round table this week on our own beloved Legislature.
HOW BAD IS the Pennsylvania Legislature?
So bad, they're talking about it in Washington.
The Brookings Institution, the oldest think tank in America, a centrist (leaning left) nonprofit, almost always referred to as "the prestigious" Brookings, held a daylong round table this week on our own beloved Legislature.
More than 30 smart people from academia, foundations and reform- and issues-oriented groups, all with Pennsylvania ties, gathered for a work-through-lunch day of idea pitching.
Oh, yeah, two journalists were there (not sure why, maybe as witnesses) - the Inky's Chris Satullo and myself.
Among the thinking: a $250,000 "outstanding legislator award." I imagine it's to get them fighting each other to be better instead of continuing their normal race-to-the-bottom behavior.
The idea came from Dr. Shirley Malcolm, a board member of the Heinz Endowments, so, you know, use more ketchup.
(I'd love to be on the selection committee.)
And if you're thinking, how sad it is to pay elected officials to be good, remember that it would be foundation funds, not yours; and
that you're paying them now (the most expensive legislature in America) to be bad.
Another thought, from Rick Stafford, a Carnegie Mellon public-policy professor who served as Gov. Dick Thornburgh's secretary of legislative affairs: Create a Constitutional Convention contest, again funded by foundations, among the state's 250-plus colleges and universities.
This, said Stafford, could pressure the Legislature, produce ideas and get younger people fired up about change.
This Brookings gathering came on the heels of a dozen legislative indictments (with promises of more) tied to misuse of millions of tax dollars and a sex-for-job swap.
It comes as the Legislature's long-time powerhouse, Philly Sen. Vince Fumo, prepares for his corruption trial.
As one of the state's first gaming-license winners faces felony charges.
And after years of suspect legislative behavior, including shady enactment of a slots law and a pay raise for lawmakers and judges.
It raises the question that if a state's politics are bad, can its policies be good, and can such a state really be expected to thrive?
Brookings' Bruce Katz, director of the institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, who honchoed the day, noted that Pennsylvania's 46th in the nation in population growth; 37th in job growth; has lost 2.9 million acres of open space and farmland, nearly a quarter of its total, since 1980, and runs itself with badly fragmented government - 2,565 municipalities.
As a result, the politics and the policies of the state produce low expectations among its electorate and little or no sense of government ownership among its citizens.
Solutions discussed tended to focus on fundamental change such as redistricting reform (which the Legislature just walked away from) and campaign-finance reform (which the Legislature hasn't touched) to make for more competitive elections and reduce incumbents' edges.
Barry Kauffman, of Common Cause, said that because of how state campaigns are funded (no limits on donations) and the way districts are drawn, "voters are almost irrelevant."
Tim Potts, of Democracy Rising, said that 56 percent of House members and 75 percent of senators seeking re-election face no opposition: "I don't know what you call a government in which the majority of elections are uncontested, but you can't call it representative democracy."
There was little about the influence of special interests (but, then, attendees were largely policy types), but there was much talk of the need for sustained public campaigns for change.
I've come to think that change happens only in crisis (in this case, ongoing indictments) and with well-funded, outside, ongoing pressure.
That petition circulated last week by Sen. Jeff Piccola, R-Dauphin County, requiring signatures from 102 House members and 26 senators for Gov. Rendell to convene a special session on ethics?
As of yesterday, 12 House members and six senators had signed.
So I look to future indictments and those attending the Brookings gig from Heinz, Pew, the William Penn Foundation and others to step up, pay up and help fix up a state in need of repair. *
Send e-mail to baerj@phillynews.com.
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