Staring down a corrupt Legislature
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Staring down a corrupt Legislature
Thursday, November 20, 2008
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tim Potts, the former state legislative aide who has been hammering his old bosses for years, says, "We've accomplished as much as we can by being Harrisburg-based loudmouths."
Now the founder of Democracy Rising Pennsylvania hopes to sic a watchdog on all 253 state lawmakers. His shoestring operation was part of a coalition that helped persuade voters to toss out a sitting justice and a fifth of the statehouse in 2005 and 2006, so I've learned to watch Mr. Potts.
That's why I drove out to Plum yesterday to see him and his Western Pennsylvania coordinator, Terry Shaffer, another former legislative aide who has found the religion of reform.
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More information
Those ready to open their Local Eyes should either e-mail terry@democracyrisingpa.com or write Democracy Rising Pa. at P.O. Box 618, Carlisle, PA 17013-0618.
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And if first impressions mean anything, they found some eager and able acolytes.
"I don't think there's any question we'll do this," Jim Simmermon said of the Public Policy Committee, a baker's dozen of seniors who live at Longwood at Oakmont and are anything but retiring.
Mr. Potts, of Carlisle, puts about 30,000 miles on his car each year talking to folks like these. He doesn't want to hear that Joe Citizen can't do anything about the systemic corruption in Harrisburg, and so is trying to counter it with systemic civic vigilance.
It's an ambitious, localized plan, and the punster in Mr. Potts can't resist calling it "Local Eyes." Citizen volunteers will home in on one state representative or senator and track all recorded votes on integrity issues, all sponsorships of reform legislation and any statements on public integrity.
Democracy Rising will provide volunteers with a list of bills and the voting schedule, but volunteers will be expected to meet each month with each lawmaker "for updates on activities toward the highest standards of public integrity in America."
Pennsylvania has been fairly consistently ranked near the bottom of the 50 states in openness and lobbying restraints. Though there have been some recent reforms, Mr. Potts noted that we still live in a state where it's perfectly legal for a lawmaker to enrich himself, provided he takes relatively small amounts from each of hundreds of favor-seekers roaming the halls of Harrisburg.
"We need transformational change," he said. "We don't want to settle for less than the best."
The key to the plan will be posting all information on democracyrisingpa.com so anyone can find it 365 days a year, 24/7. At last count, the group had about 30 volunteers in Allegheny County and a few more in surrounding counties, but it clearly has a long way to go.
Anne Louise Feeny of Oakland is among the early volunteers. She's politically active and got an e-mail from someone about this and liked the ground-up rather than top-down nature of the enterprise.
She hasn't been assigned a lawmaker yet, but said she'd make time for a monthly meeting because "the person responsible [for good government] is the one you're facing in the mirror."
John Hauck, owner of the Birmingham Bridge Tavern on the South Side and a resident of Pleasant Hills, says he's going to make the time for this because of long frustration with government bureaucracy.
It's no surprise that Western Pennsylvanians are stepping up. The citizen uprising after the unconstitutional midterm pay grab in the summer of 2005 was largely based out here and in the counties surrounding Harrisburg, where they've had up-close viewing of the oversized, back-scratching statehouse.
The pay grab never was much of an issue in southeast Pennsylvania, and Mr. Potts surmised that is because the Philadelphia area is relatively wealthy and so the salaries that lawmakers handed themselves didn't seem so far out of line.
The inequality of wealth in Pennsylvania surely played a role. But it was never the numbers, rather the audacious disregard of the state constitution that awakened the populace here.
As the recession bites into the state budget and state Attorney General Tom Corbett's investigation of legislative corruption kicks into second gear, America's Largest Full-Time State Legislature remains flush with millions to spend on itself. We, the people, may spend more time worrying about national politics, but our federalist system is based on the belief we can walk and chew gum, can watch more than one government, at the same time.
Brian O'Neill can be reached at boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947. More articles by this author
First published on November 20, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
By Brian O'Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Tim Potts, the former state legislative aide who has been hammering his old bosses for years, says, "We've accomplished as much as we can by being Harrisburg-based loudmouths."
Now the founder of Democracy Rising Pennsylvania hopes to sic a watchdog on all 253 state lawmakers. His shoestring operation was part of a coalition that helped persuade voters to toss out a sitting justice and a fifth of the statehouse in 2005 and 2006, so I've learned to watch Mr. Potts.
That's why I drove out to Plum yesterday to see him and his Western Pennsylvania coordinator, Terry Shaffer, another former legislative aide who has found the religion of reform.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More information
Those ready to open their Local Eyes should either e-mail terry@democracyrisingpa.com or write Democracy Rising Pa. at P.O. Box 618, Carlisle, PA 17013-0618.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And if first impressions mean anything, they found some eager and able acolytes.
"I don't think there's any question we'll do this," Jim Simmermon said of the Public Policy Committee, a baker's dozen of seniors who live at Longwood at Oakmont and are anything but retiring.
Mr. Potts, of Carlisle, puts about 30,000 miles on his car each year talking to folks like these. He doesn't want to hear that Joe Citizen can't do anything about the systemic corruption in Harrisburg, and so is trying to counter it with systemic civic vigilance.
It's an ambitious, localized plan, and the punster in Mr. Potts can't resist calling it "Local Eyes." Citizen volunteers will home in on one state representative or senator and track all recorded votes on integrity issues, all sponsorships of reform legislation and any statements on public integrity.
Democracy Rising will provide volunteers with a list of bills and the voting schedule, but volunteers will be expected to meet each month with each lawmaker "for updates on activities toward the highest standards of public integrity in America."
Pennsylvania has been fairly consistently ranked near the bottom of the 50 states in openness and lobbying restraints. Though there have been some recent reforms, Mr. Potts noted that we still live in a state where it's perfectly legal for a lawmaker to enrich himself, provided he takes relatively small amounts from each of hundreds of favor-seekers roaming the halls of Harrisburg.
"We need transformational change," he said. "We don't want to settle for less than the best."
The key to the plan will be posting all information on democracyrisingpa.com so anyone can find it 365 days a year, 24/7. At last count, the group had about 30 volunteers in Allegheny County and a few more in surrounding counties, but it clearly has a long way to go.
Anne Louise Feeny of Oakland is among the early volunteers. She's politically active and got an e-mail from someone about this and liked the ground-up rather than top-down nature of the enterprise.
She hasn't been assigned a lawmaker yet, but said she'd make time for a monthly meeting because "the person responsible [for good government] is the one you're facing in the mirror."
John Hauck, owner of the Birmingham Bridge Tavern on the South Side and a resident of Pleasant Hills, says he's going to make the time for this because of long frustration with government bureaucracy.
It's no surprise that Western Pennsylvanians are stepping up. The citizen uprising after the unconstitutional midterm pay grab in the summer of 2005 was largely based out here and in the counties surrounding Harrisburg, where they've had up-close viewing of the oversized, back-scratching statehouse.
The pay grab never was much of an issue in southeast Pennsylvania, and Mr. Potts surmised that is because the Philadelphia area is relatively wealthy and so the salaries that lawmakers handed themselves didn't seem so far out of line.
The inequality of wealth in Pennsylvania surely played a role. But it was never the numbers, rather the audacious disregard of the state constitution that awakened the populace here.
As the recession bites into the state budget and state Attorney General Tom Corbett's investigation of legislative corruption kicks into second gear, America's Largest Full-Time State Legislature remains flush with millions to spend on itself. We, the people, may spend more time worrying about national politics, but our federalist system is based on the belief we can walk and chew gum, can watch more than one government, at the same time.
Brian O'Neill can be reached at boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947. More articles by this author
First published on November 20, 2008
