DeWeese ending catering expense
House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese has eliminated catered meals for the Democratic caucus during session days – a recurring expense that’s cost taxpayers up to $6,300 per pop – as part of his support for reform, spokesman Tom Andrews said late Friday. Although good-government activists weren’t overly impressed, Andrews said, “He’s looking to make changes and that’s part of the changes. He’s ending the practice of House Democratic Caucus-sponsored lunches, on session days.”
However, activist Gene Stilp, who last week called for DeWeese’s resignation over a still-brewing multi-million-dollar staff bonus controversy, said, “Everything that Mr. DeWeese has proposed right now is window dressing … while it’s easy to do these extremely small items like catering, he has to get to the big items.”
As minority leader, DeWeese regularly authorized payment for catered lunches for his caucus from his special leadership account, even though lawmakers qualify for a per diem that currently stands at $148 per day. That money is supposed to cover meals and hotels while they’re in Harrisburg.
A two-month review of DeWeese’s spending in late 2005 showed regular payments of nearly $1,900 for sandwich and fruit platters for his caucus. It also showed that DeWeese spent $45,178 for meals overall in those two months, including feeding himself, staff and constituents.
Andrews said DeWeese “supports more transparency and openness in state government” and has made several overtures in that area, including sponsoring House rules that eliminated temporary floor leave for legislators, posting live streaming video of House activity on the Internet, proposing that a “cap and rollback” of the legislature’s $215 million surplus be part of state budget negotiations, and proposing a full day of “caucus discussion” on where to head with open records and the public’s right to know.
“I know he wants to allow the rank-and-file members the opportunity for input (on those issues),” said Andrews.
By way of reform, Andrews also said DeWeese “supports the concept” of permitting reporters back on the House floor, and has instructed staff to look into the best way to post the House voting schedule and roll call votes on the Internet.
Andrews added that DeWeese signed off on an “action in writing” to make a full list of House employee salaries available to the public. That came after the secret bonus system became public weeks ago, ironically from the leak of a letter DeWeese wrote to one recipient basically urging that the matter be kept quiet.
Tim Potts, coordinator for DemocracyRising PA and DeWeese’s one-time chief of staff, said of the reform measures touted by Andrews, “These things, if they happen, are good things. But they are small potatoes compared to the reforms that we need.”
Potts said far more meaningful reforms would give Pennsylvania the best campaign finance, open records, lobbying control and voter-friendly election laws in the nation. Potts also called for an investigation into the bonus system and for annual audits of the legislature “using the highest accounting standards instead of the lowest.”
If DeWeese is serious about reform, he will embrace those things, said Potts, who added, “What we’re looking at here is an institution that’s looking to do the least they can get away with, instead of the best that’s possible.”
Stilp said DeWeese is “coming late to the reform table, as usual” with his proposals, and is offering “extremely limited” changes while ignoring the big-picture items – like reform of legislative pensions and the bonus system.
“If anything, it’s totally false reform,” said Stilp. “I want to see the bonuses (given out) in the past and everything he’s spent legislative leadership account money on,” including any current and former contracts with former legislators.
Eric Epstein, coordinator for RockTheCapitol.org, said when it comes to reform, “There is a fresh breeze blowing through Harrisburg, and Bill DeWeese is little more than political halitosis fogging up the reform window.”
Epstein called for “destroying the leadership nests that have turned Pennsylvania into a political rat hole,” and characterized DeWeese as “the chief rat who needs to be put out to political pasture.”
State Rep. Timothy S. Mahoney, D-South Union, said the public should keep in mind the various degrees of reform and should not settle for something miniscule.
“We need to do the whole reform, not just a fraction of reform,” said Mahoney. “Little reforms aren’t the issue. It’s the big reforms that need addressed, like making sure (spending of) all taxpayer money is open to the public.”
Andrews said DeWeese “is not a cosponsor now” of Mahoney’s bill, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be one in the future. Andrews said DeWeese is awaiting the recommendations of the Speakers’ reform commission – a body to which DeWeese appointed 12 members, including several of his critics like Mahoney – before making any formal legislation commitments.
According to GovNetPA.com, a legislative tracking service, in the two-year session that ended in 2006, DeWeese ranked 17th among the House’s 203 members when it came to cosponsoring bills. He was a cosponsor of 1,458, or 25.3 percent, of the 5,759 bills introduced during that time by members of the House and Senate.
Considering only the 4,006 bills introduced in the House, DeWeese was a cosponsor 36.3 percent of the time.