Important issue before Supreme Court
The news item from Harrisburg last week was short, but its potential impact could be of historical significance for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The short item said that the justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have decided to hear oral arguments in the Herald-Standard’s claim that members of the state Legislature cannot refuse to disclose their taxpayer-paid expense records to the public.
Most people are not aware that the Legislature has exempted itself from the state’s Open Records law. In other words, just to be sure everyone is clear on this point, taxpayers have absolutely no legal right to see any expense account of any member of the Legislature.
That is at the core of our lawsuit, which involves state Rep. Larry Roberts. The suit originally was filed with a request that Roberts provide access to his phone bills. The suit sought only those bills that were paid for by the taxpayers.
When we filed the lawsuit, we were somewhat confident that we would prevail since the Commonwealth Court had ruled previously that cell phone records possessed by a Washington County commissioner were public documents. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Washington Observer-Reporter had filed that suit, seeking the phone records. The court ordered the commissioner in that case to turn over the documents.
After the commissioner’s phone records were revealed, numerous personal cell phone calls were found. The commissioner was forced to reimburse the county for the cost of those calls. More important, however, was the fact that the Commonwealth Court had ruled the cell phone bills were public documents.
In the Roberts case, the five-member Commonwealth Court panel of judges ruled exactly the opposite. Legislators, the court said, have what they called legislative immunity.
This immunity law actually applies to protecting legislators from being sued or harassed for any comments they utter on the House or Senate floor during heated debates. It was never intended to extend to expense documents.
This is the question currently pending before the state Supreme Court. We contend that the members of the Legislature should be accountable to the public for the money they spend on their expense accounts, including their long distance phone bills. These accounts, of course, involve millions of taxpayer dollars.
Political observers and legal experts are watching this case because it could be a test of the constitutional balance of power among the legislative, judicial and executive branches. The question is: Can the courts order the legislative branch to produce taxpayer-paid expense records.
The commonsense answer is easy. No public official or agency should be allowed to operate in secret, unless one supposes it involves imminent danger to national security. Legislative expense accounts are certainly no security threat.
It should be made clear, also, that there is no law which prevents the legislators from revealing, in detail, their expense accounts for the public to review.
The bottom line here is that the ball is now squarely in the state Supreme Court’s lap. No branch of government should have unlimited authority to pass laws or to do as it pleases. The U.S. Supreme Court has frequently overruled acts of the Congress, declaring them to be violations of the Constitution.
This is one of the factors which makes the Roberts case extremely interesting because it confronts the balance of power issue. It also asks the state Supreme Court to require the Legislature to be accountable to the taxpayers, another fundamental constitutional question.
The oral arguments could be heard as soon as May. Public disclosure of legislative expense records should be required. The Roberts case represents a major test of the balance of powers within state government.
We were pleased to hear that the court accepted the case for oral arguments.
As to whether or not the justices will decide in the favor of the taxpayers, and therefore restore balance among the branches of government by requiring accountability from the Legislature, is anyone’s guess. We hope they will.
Our democratic government is based on the belief that no man is above the law. Whether this will be true in Pennsylvania could be decided soon.
Mike Ellis is the editor of the Herald-Standard. His e-mail address is: mellis@heraldstandard.com