Act now
When it comes to abuses of power, Pennsylvania has had quite the track record as of late.
In the past five years alone, more than dozen public officials with ties to the Capitol have faced corruption charges with criminal charges bring brought most recently against members of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.
As such, it’s no wonder that few have much confidence in the integrity of our state government.
State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry Township, has recently made headlines with his attempts to restore the public trust by opening a hearing of the House State Government Committee — of which he is chairman — to discuss a slew of bills that aim to amend ethics rules related to gift-giving, nepotism and lobbying, among other issues.
We believe this is a positive development in Harrisburg to deal with these long-standing issues. As Metcalfe notes, most of the bills under consideration involved smaller violations than those at the heart of the major corruption cases, but still represent steps in the right direction.
While more will need to be done to address the larger issues — and the systemic causes of those issues — these bills should move forward for the betterment of the commonwealth.
However, one only has to observe Harrisburg for a short period to realize that there’s a difference between talking about addressing an issue and actually following through.
Metcalfe is saying the right things about tackling corruption — and we hope that he does follow through on his promises.
However, it is disconcerting to say the least when he begins to hedge by pointing out the possibility that any action may just have to wait until 2014.
We’ve seen this sort of trick far too often, where politician grab headlines — and kudos — for talking a big game on issues like tackling corruption and then pushing the issue down the road until the public forgets about the bold claims and we are left never actually seeing any real results.
This is Harrisburg’s endemic and systemic failings in a nutshell: a lot of talk and then nothing happens.
At the root of that problem is the schedule which calls for the state legislature to only be in session 75 days in 2013, including only 21 days through the rest of the year. It’s simply incredible to think that the legislators, who are paid full-time salaries, can’t meet more often. No wonder nothing ever gets done in Harrisburg with such a light working schedule.
Perhaps Metcalfe’s first order of business should be to make sure the legislature picks up its schedule a bit in the coming months and gets down to the business of passing important legislation.
Then, Metcalfe and other legislators can work on restoring the public trust, which has taken a beating in recent years.
We hope, for the commonwealth’s sake, that Metcalfe sincerely believes in these reforms and will take whatever action necessary to get them passed by the state legislature.
It’s easy to talk about tackling corruption, but, as they say, actions speak much louder.
If Metcalfe is truly serious about reforming Harrisburg he must not let this issue become another example of bold claims being made but never to be seen or heard from again.
Metcalfe must lead the way on this important issue and follow through on his bold promises.