Feb 28, 2007 3 min read

Kudos to state Rep. H. William DeWeese for showing up at a Tuesday meeting of the House Legislative Reform Commission to interject his view on a very important matter, one that truly represents a major change in how the House conducts business. Basically, DeWeese recommended that the House Rules Committee cease being a place where bills can be dramatically altered by amendments, away from the full light of day and the regular (and more open) committee process. The Rules Committee has also served as a legislative graveyard for bills that leadership simply hasn’t wanted to move forward, which is another abuse of procedure.

When a person of DeWeese’s stature – he’s House Majority leader and, by virtue of that title, chairman of the Rules Committee – makes this type of reform request, it’s bound to carry significant weight. Even if the reform commission doesn’t approve his recommendation, which seems highly unlikely, DeWeese plans to enact the reform via his role as Rules Committee chairman.

In essence, DeWeese is diminishing his own power by putting his weight behind this change. Under the old way of doing business, the leadership-driven Rules Committee wielded significant clout to do whatever it pleased with legislation, including gutting bills and replacing them with entirely different language. It’s a shady practice that allows for all kinds of legislative mischief, which essentially undermines the concept of representative democracy.

It is also, for someone in DeWeese’s position, giving up a significant degree of personal power in order to achieve a greater good, that being a more intellectually honest and transparent legislative process. Even better, DeWeese made his intentions known in public, in front of the 24-member bipartisan commission tasked with recommending changes in how the House does business.

“I just thought it was appropriate to make a very substantial statement to the Speaker’s reform commission relative to the way we run the House floor,” said DeWeese. “These other reforms (being considered) are admittedly modest steps in the right direction. This is a massive step.”

Being a catalyst in the reform process is a role DeWeese should enthusiastically undertake. Previously, he had staked out a passive position, using the logic that active participation on his part might be construed as strong-arming, which he’d been accused of in the past

We see nothing wrong with DeWeese putting his suggestion cards on the table, and with letting his peers and the public know where he stands. It’s called “leadership,” and when anyone wields their power for a good purpose, it’s called “effective leadership.”

DeWeese still has to answer for some other issues, including Bonusgate, but his actions Tuesday show that his considerable political moxie can be applied to much-needed changes in Harrisburg.

DeWeese looked like a leader for a good cause Tuesday. We hope he continues vigorously down that path.