Apr 7, 2007 By Amy Zalar 6 min read

While admitting that he was not initially an aggressive supporter of improved open records legislation, state Rep. H. William DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, said Friday that he is now unequivocally behind the push for reform. During a taping of “Behind the Headlines” for HSTV, DeWeese accompanied freshman state Rep. Timothy S. Mahoney, D-South Union, to discuss the sea of change sweeping through Harrisburg. DeWeese gave Mahoney full credit for pushing the open records issue to the forefront.

“He took Harrisburg by storm,” DeWeese said of Mahoney, who introduced open records legislation not long after taking office earlier this year. DeWeese recently signed on as a co-sponsor to Mahoney’s bill. “I’ve been knocked off the donkey. I’ve seen the light,” DeWeese said, making a biblical analogy.

DeWeese said he is a better public official because of how hard he had to campaign in the last election, where he learned firsthand from knocking on doors that his constituents were upset about the pay raise he supported and three aspects of it, namely that it was done in the middle of the night, that it took effect immediately and that it happened without open debate.

DeWeese said so far this legislative term, the legislature has accepted 31 out of the 32 changes proposed by the Speaker’s Reform Commission, of which Mahoney is a member. DeWeese said the legislature will no longer be voting in the middle of the night; thus a pay raise issue will never take place again. Also, DeWeese said there is now a 24-hour waiting period before legislation is put to a vote.

In summing up why he has decided to support reform legislation, DeWeese quoted French poet and novelist Victor Hugo. “Nothing is so powerful as an idea whose time has come,” DeWeese said. The majority leader said Mahoney was the “crystallizing influence” that prompted him to move forward with changes. “I have enough God-given common sense to know that if I don’t lead reform, that reform will go on without me,” DeWeese said.

Mahoney said while there are several reform proposals out there, including one by Gov. Ed Rendell, he is glad DeWeese is supporting his legislation. “Governor Rendell has taken my proposal and made it his own, so I’m happy Bill jumped on mine,” Mahoney said.

DeWeese pointed out that he appointed Mahoney to the Speaker’s Reform Commission despite the fact that Mahoney did not initially vote for DeWeese as Democratic leader. DeWeese also discussed the history of how Dennis O’Brien, R-Philadelphia, became Speaker of the House as a Republican despite a one-vote Democratic majority.

DeWeese said he hatched the plan to wrestle the speakership away from Republican John Perzel of Philadelphia County when it became apparent that DeWeese did not have the votes to win the position. “I was two or three votes short, but Perzel was seven short,” DeWeese said.

He said when it became apparent that the Mahoneys of the legislature would be ascending, he made a pact with O’Brien in which O’Brien would be named Speaker and DeWeese would remain majority leader.

Mahoney said he doesn’t believe if Perzel had retained the speaker position there would have been any chance of reform. “(Perzel) starting reform would be like me going back to college, where I never went,” Mahoney said. He said Perzel did little for reform in the 12 years his party was in the majority in the state House. Democrats now hold a slim 102-101 majority over Republicans.

DeWeese said the only recommendation out of 32 that was not approved out of the Speaker’s Reform Commission was a proposal to take away the power to substantively amend bills from the Appropriations Committee. DeWeese pointed out that the power to amend bills in the Rules Committee, of which he is chairman, was taken away at his own behest. “I gave up overwhelming power as chairman of the Rules Committee,” DeWeese said.

While the power to amend bills is still preserved in the Appropriations Committee, DeWeese said it is possible that could change in the future. He said it is now a “different world” with access to the Internet than it was when records had to be accessed in person in Harrisburg.

When asked about assertions that O’Brien will be a puppet for DeWeese, Mahoney said O’Brien is not a puppet for anyone. “His heart is with autistic children and Perzel wouldn’t cooperate,” Mahoney said. “I don’t think he’s a ‘yes man’ for anyone.”

DeWeese said that historically O’Brien and Perzel never had a good political relationship, although their legislative districts are beside each other. “They weren’t rubbing elbows like me and Tim Mahoney,” DeWeese said.

DeWeese said helping O’Brien ascend to the Speaker of the House position was a “sweet, sweet victory,” even though DeWeese did not get to regain the job himself.

DeWeese said the large bonuses paid to legislative staff last year could have been viewed as “overly generous,” but added that he believes the number of his staff members is justified. DeWeese said he doesn’t believe there was anything illegal about the bonuses paid to staff members, but said maybe the size of bonuses should be looked at. He added that all pay increases and bonuses have been frozen.

Regarding the difficulty in obtaining records and receipts from the legislature in the past, Mahoney said if his bill were in place already, 90 percent of the problems would go away.

DeWeese said Mahoney’s advent and the “whole nature of changes” in Harrisburg have made for a different story today.

Mahoney said he believes open records is the most important issue in the state and he vowed to get it done. “I campaigned on open records,” Mahoney said. He added that the next challenge would be eliminating school property taxes. “If we do that, it will alleviate a lot of problems,” Mahoney said.

DeWeese said reducing or eliminating property taxes is “possible but a heavy lift.”

While DeWeese said it is difficult to bring economic development as a legislator outside of infrastructure improvements, Mahoney said economic development would occur if the state gets involved with improving the quality of life for residents by dealing with school taxes and improving education. He said it all ultimately comes back to taxes.

The hour-long “Behind the Headlines” show will air at 7 p.m. Sunday on HSTV.