Tim Potts: 2nd Anniversary of the Pay Raise

[Reposted from the Pennsylvania Order of Liberty Blog]

July 5, 2007
This morning, several groups working for greater integrity in state government held a news conference to commemorate the second anniversary of the pay raise on July 7.

The groups included The Rock the Capital, Commonwealth Foundation, Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania, PA Clean Sweep and Democracy Rising PA.

Following are remarks by Democracy Rising PA Co-Founder Tim Potts:

Here we are. It's July 5th. We just observed the birthday of American independence in the birthplace of American independence.

But we don't have an operating budget for the government that serves 12.5 million citizens. Thousands of public and private sector employees are threatened with furloughs. Artificial crises, false choices and fictional deadlines take on the appearance of divine mandates, delaying and complicating the single most important task of the year - apart from conductin! g elections that are honest and fair.

So it's a good time for a reality check on how well our public servants are doing at reforming themselves. In two days it will be two years since the event that stirred Pennsylvania's political conscience.

In each of the past four elections, our citizens have stood up for their political conscience. They said, "We want our government back. We want our government to operate with integrity, to give us value for our taxes, to be as transparent as possible and to earn our confidence."

In short, citizens want public officials who are dedicated to giving Pennsylvania the best state government in America, not the worst.

Our political leaders have told us again and again that they got the message. But if they weren't saying it so loud and so often - and using our tax dollars to do it - it would be hard to detect.

It's been 728 days since the pay raise, enough time for a family t! o have two children. Yet the box score on new laws is:

• 1 very poor law enacted to improve integrity in state government.
• 0 "best-in-America" laws enacted.

That's the bottom line. What have they actually done in law to improve integrity, value, transparency and citizen confidence. And the answer is, virtually nothing.

Meanwhile, what else have they done in the past two years? They have:

• Ignored at least two-thirds of citizens who want to prohibit lobbyists from giving public officials gifts, meals, entertainment, travel and all the other forms of legalized bribery that wash over the capitol like rain at this time of year.
• Ignored the clear will of 82% of us who want to prohibit lame-duck session like two-thirds of the other states in America.
• Suspended one of the key reform rules adopted earlier this year, depriving citizens of the chance to comment on a last-minute! proposal for $1.6 billion in capital projects for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Luzerne County.
• The General Assembly, Supreme Court and governor continue to spend millions of dollars defending the pay raise in court, even though it was repealed, parts of it were declared unconstitutional and a former Speaker of the House called it "indefensible."
• Lawmakers and Gov. Rendell continue to debate tax and fee increases while the legislature sits on a slush fund of at least $215 million.
• Attorney General Tom Corbett has gone to a grand jury with an investigation into whether millions of dollars paid to legislative staffers were intended to reward them for political work, which is illegal.
• Federal prosecutors have filed 139 indictments alleging various forms of public corruption by a state senator.
• Lawmakers spent $6 million of taxpayer funds on so-called public service ads tha t featured incumbent lawmakers during the 2006 election year.
• The Supreme Court, without stating its authority or reasons, twice prohibited the citizens of Philadelphia from holding a referendum. City Council had the sense to ask whether citizens want to have slots parlors within 1,500 feet of homes, schools, playgrounds and houses of worship. Two dissenting justices claim the Court has no authority to issue the orders. The Court majority simply says, "Do it because we say so."
• On the last day of lame-duck session - without public hearings, public debate, or even public knowledge - lawmakers passed a law providing unlimited free alcohol to slots players. No wonder 82% of Pennsylvania voters want to ban lame-duck session.
• Finally, we pay top dollar for this lousy performance with arguably the most bloated and expensive legislature in America.

And there's more at www.democracyrisingpa.com .

Citizens are not letting their political leaders off the hook any longer. Our leaders have not earned our trust. We will not give them the benefit of the doubt. We will hold them accountable for the quality of their deeds, not the quantity of their words.

This time, the citizens will have their way.

Tim Potts
Co-Founder & Chair
Democracy Rising Pennsylvania

© Democracy Rising Pennsylvania 2001-2007. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2007, Pennsylvania Order of Liberty Blog; All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2005-2007, THE CENTRIST; All Rights Reserved.