Activists hope to reform state government : The Morning Call OnlineI do like to have the depth for the discussions. We can take the concepts and string them into the Platform.For-Pgh.org.
By John L. Micek, Call Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG | The loosely knit band of activists who helped derail last year's legislative pay raises plans to spend the new year pushing for reforms to state government.
''We believe that 2005 prepared 2006 to be the 'Year of Integrity' in Pennsylvania politics,'' said Tim Potts of the activist group Democracy Rising.
Potts and about a half-dozen other pay raise foes gathered in the Capitol on Tuesday to roll out their agenda for 2006.
Their playbook includes calls for lobbyist disclosure and campaign finance reform, a broader open records law and, for some, the wholesale rejection by voters of incumbents in the primary and general elections.
The activists say this year will also serve as a place-setter for a ''citizens' constitutional convention'' in 2007.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Activists hope to reform state government : The Morning Call Online
I hope that the push for more and more reforms does not make for an implosion. The band of reformers might be best suited for a team victory if they were nimble and light. Too much heft with the reform agenda and the wheels could begin to wobble. Time will tell.
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Activists hope to reform state government
By John L. Micek
Call Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG | The loosely knit band of activists who helped derail last year's legislative pay raises plans to spend the new year pushing for reforms to state government.
''We believe that 2005 prepared 2006 to be the 'Year of Integrity' in Pennsylvania politics,'' said Tim Potts of the activist group Democracy Rising.
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Potts and about a half-dozen other pay raise foes gathered in the Capitol on Tuesday to roll out their agenda for 2006.
Their playbook includes calls for lobbyist disclosure and campaign finance reform, a broader open records law and, for some, the wholesale rejection by voters of incumbents in the primary and general elections.
The activists say this year will also serve as a place-setter for a ''citizens' constitutional convention'' in 2007.
The issues are less glamorous than the now-repealed 16 percent to 34 percent raises, which galvanized public opinion overwhelmingly against the 253-member General Assembly.
The pay hikes, which also included judges and some parts of the executive branch, became instant fodder for talk radio, editorial pages and Web logs. Popular anger over the raises also ultimately led to the unprecedented ouster of a sitting state Supreme Court justice last fall.
Barry Kauffman, executive director of the voter watchdog group Common Cause of Pennsylvania, acknowledged the difficulty of trying to sell the public on dry policy issues.
But Kauffman said he also believes the raise controversy was a ''teachable moment'' that helped to focus voter attention on the Legislature.
Lebanon County resident Russ Diamond, who runs the anti-incumbent Operation Clean Sweep, claims to have a roster of 99 candidates in 74 different House and Senate districts. Two-thirds of those candidates will challenge incumbent lawmakers during the May primary election, he said.
Diamond said he'll unveil the slate Jan. 30 in Harrisburg. Meanwhile, he's still recruiting and has begun running radio commercials in northeastern Pennsylvania.
Dauphin County gadfly Gene Stilp, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court on Tuesday seeking judicial review of lawmakers' benefits, such as taxpayer-funded car leases.
The state Constitution, Stilp argued, only authorizes a salary and mileage payments for legislators. ''This issue has never been before the court before,'' he said. ''Now it will be.''
john.micek@mcall.com
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