Lawmakers propose Harrisburg reforms in wake of pay raise controversy
HARRISBURG – Rep. Pete Daley said he had a gun to his head last July. Vote for the pay raise, or risk losing his chairmanship position on the agriculture committee and $350,000 in community and economic development money slated to his Fayette and Washington County districts.
In past pay raises, he said he voted ‘no’ and paid the legislative price. This time he chose the pay raise.
No leader told him he’d get gored, Daley (D-Calilfornia) said. It was just a feeling based on precedent.
“I was always a reformer,” said the 24-year lawmaker. “Unfortunately this time around, I was sitting in the corner with a gun to my head with the idea I could get my brains blown out here.”
Daley is now part of a growing cadre of lawmakers proposing legislative reforms to clean up Harrisburg. Spurred on by the public’s anti-pay raise sentiment and historic upsets in last week’s primary, individual lawmakers and loose coalitions have formed to advance change.
Some say the newfound interest is just election year politics, and these are fair-weather reformers.
“I’m not buying it,” said Daley’s presumptive GOP opponent Ed Angell. “You need to put someone in that position who has the integrity to do the right thing. Where does he draw the line between right and wrong then if he didn’t draw it here?”
But government reform activists working to advance the “Roadmap to Reform,” a broad overhaul to the way Harrisburg does business, say they don’t need sainthood from lawmakers, they need active partners regardless of their motivations.
Rock the Capitol coordinator Eric Epstein stoked the need for reconciliation at a press conference Thursday.
“I don’t have the ability to crawl inside someone’s mind and determine when and how they have their epiphanies,” he said. “Converts often become fanatics. I welcome reform fanatics to our ranks.”
Some of the reform-minded lawmakers say they’ve been disgruntled for years but public support now makes their bold moves possible. In the House, a Republican group calling itself the Jefferson Reform Initiative has grown from seven lawmakers in December to an estimated 35 now. They inspired a similar group to form among House Democrats, now comprised of a couple dozen lawmakers. Leaders of the groups said they’re not ready to release all the names of the participants.
Their mission is to wrestle away some of the enormous power of leadership and hand it to the rank and file, as well as set up a fairer, more deliberate legislative process by changing the House rules when the new term starts in January.
If they have their way, gone will be midnight hour votes, important changes thrust into bills at the last minute by the leadership-controlled Rules Committee, and committee chairmanships that can last decades.
Some are even calling for an easier ability to recall leaders in mid term.
Change may be possible because while the reform-minded don’t have the numbers yet to effectuate an overhaul, nearly 50 newcomers will take office next year with the massive number of retirements and primary election upsets of incumbents.
“It’s one of those things that unless you get a groundswell of support, it’s tough to move that agenda,” said Northampton County Democrat Robert Freeman, who’s part of the Democratic reform group. “But in this atmosphere I think there is greater support and a readiness of members to try to push though some changes.”
Rep. Curt Schroder, a Chester County Republican, said one of the goals of the Jefferson Reform Initiative this year is to provide support to reform-minded candidates in the way of education and message-shaping.
The help would go out to Republican candidates in open seats, incumbents, and even challengers to incumbents, he said, urging the reform cohort in the Democratic caucus to do the same thing.
“We need to do that so when we come back in January we have enough votes to pass some of these changes,” said Schroder.
Schroder said leadership is simply not embracing these proposals on their own, refusing to put a lobbyist disclosure bill to a vote last month that could have benefited some of the lawmakers who lost their primary bids.
“They were denied the benefit of having that vote by [Speaker] John Perzel because he would not heed our call,” Schroder said.
Perzel’s spokeswoman Beth Williams said he’s been overseeing a new lobbyist disclosure bill that will be ready by June, and there’s data to suggest voters cared about the issue when choosing their party nominations at the primary. If lawmakers want change, she said they can speak to the Speaker.
“He has an open door policy and they’re more than welcome to approach him about these concerns,” she said.
Reform activists want change now, but reform-minded lawmakers say beyond lobbyist disclosure, they’re taking a longer term viewpoint. Schroder said if they keep their scope narrow for now, they’ll have a better chance at concentrating their efforts to be successful.
Rep. Dave Steil, a Bucks County Republican leading the Jefferson Reform Initiative (JRI), said it may be too divisive to expect change in an election year when members need each other’s help.
“I think a lot of the impetus is going to come from new members yet to be elected,” said Rep. Dave Steil, a Bucks County Republican and part of the Jefferson group. “There is still a very cautious approach on the part of existing members. While many see value to it, their commitment to the JRI may help or hurt their campaigns.”
Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or begin ahawkes@calkins-media.com ahawkes@calkins-media.com end