There are, in this world, a number of things people just take for granted. The sky is blue, wheat is a plant, all of the proposed political reforms in Pennsylvania are good. The weird fact however is, that absolutely none of these pieces of conventional wisdom are at all true (except for the first two).
As a co-chair of the Senate Cost-Cutting Commission I have seen the hundreds of E-mails we solicited asking citizens to suggest ways to cut costs in state government. A percentage of E-mails are interesting, by which I mean BOTH kinds of interesting. The interesting that leads you to say "Wow, that's a really good idea", and the other kind of interesting which leads you to say "Wow, One of Xenu's Planets is missing some of its Body Thetans". But by far, the most common suggestions (about 8 out of ten) are some variation of the following:
"I have an idea on how to cut costs. How about we start by cutting legislator's pay...to ZERO!! Then, lets cut the size of the legislature, term-limit them, make them part-time, eliminate their pensions and their health care and stop reimbursing them for mileage and hotels. Then, when all that's done, lets cut the pipes on their water fountains. Who the hell are they to get water just because they are thirsty. And the heat, lets get rid of that too. Oh, and if there's a way to make their shoes too tight...etc."
I'm sure it feels good to bash legislators. We have chosen a profession where part of the job description is being called stupid, corrupt, insane, incompetent, smarmy perverts. People can even call us these things anonymously. There is something very empowering about sitting in your underwear in your mother's basement, eating Cheetos and typing your musings into a computer ("I SAID, I'll be done in a minute MOM!!"). Anyway, where was I? Oh yes...smarmy perverts. Right.
The problem with the "legislators are bad people" meme is that it is almost entirely untrue. And the "reforms" based on it are almost all really bad ideas which would do great damage to our state. I know this is not a popular position to take, but if I cared about being popular, I'd probably drop my "Apple Pie Sucks" crusade.
First, I've seen firsthand that the overwhelming majority of people you elect to represent you are very smart, extremely honest, competent, hard-working people who care a great deal about making Pennsylvania a better place. There are bad apples (which incidentally make bad pies) like there are in any profession. There are bad plumbers (see "Joe the...), bad butchers (see ...of Seville) and bad goat herders (see...uh...Harvey the Bad Goat Herder). But when the press write that the PA Legislature is corrupt, they are taking the bad exception and disingenuously making it the rhetorical rule.
Most of us have never given or received a bonus for political work and I frankly have never even been offered a bribe. Although people have offered me money to "go away and leave me alone" that pre-dates my political career and doesn't directly impact public policy. Further, the budget didn't pass late because we are lazy, or forgot about it. It passed late because we have divided government with sincere and strongly-felt disagreements about the role of government. In other words, the budget passed late because individual legislators were fighting to do what the people of their districts elected them to do, whether that be cutting taxes or fighting to save important programs.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not against all reform. I believe that if we instituted 2 reforms, we would solve 90% of our political problems. Specifically, we need to end political gerrymandering (which is, incidentally, my bill) and publicly finance campaigns so elected officials don't have to ask people they represent for money. As for the rest of the reforms, here's a quick primer on why they are bad ideas:
Term Limits - It's amazing to me that people who spend so much time complaining that politicians have too much power, support this obscene power grab. I have never been to Venango County, mostly because they have an Apple Pie Festival each year and I can't be a part of such an abomination. But it seems to me that the people of Venango County should be the ones to pick their representatives, not me. If I voted for term limits, I'd be telling the Apple Pie Queen and the rest of the Venangoians that even if they like their Senator, I know better and I am going to prohibit them from choosing who they want.
Aside from being anti-democratic, term limits result in people running the legislature who have only been there for a couple of years. I prefer to have someone who has been through a few things as Speaker or President Pro Tempore of the Senate, rather than some dude who is still saying things like "uh..how do you get to the men's room?" or "uh...how do you get out of the men's room?"
Shrinking the legislature - It is important to note that we already have one of the smallest legislatures in the nation, judged by the only reasonable measure of such things, which is how many people we each represent. It's not very revealing to say that we have more legislators than Idaho. There are no people in Idaho. Literally. No people. Not one. Most people don't know that. Except for in Idaho, where everyone, which is no one, knows that. The average state Senator in America represents 160,000 people. Pennsylvania Senators represent 275,000. Making the districts bigger would only mean poorer constituent service, concentration of power in fewer hands, and districts which are easier to Gerrymander and marginalize groups of voters.
Part-time legislature - This is the dumbest idea of all. Lets say you were getting brain surgery, either medicinal or cosmetic, doesn't matter. Would you rather have a full-time Brain surgeon or a guy who sells Lazy-Boy recliners full time, but cracks open a cranium for a few days every other year? Whether you like the results or not, legislators do important work. They decide how our education system works as well as numerous complicated health care programs. They make life or death decisions involving capitol punishment or abortion, they run our state's transportation system. I prefer that the person who does that spends all of their time learning, reading, studying, talking to interested parties and experts and debating these critical issues rather than someone who pops by every few months and says "So, the state pensions need fixin', I guess I can squeeze that in before lunch. I have to show a Buick LaSabre this afternoon."
When I talk to people who favor these reforms, it really all comes down to one thing. Most of the time, people don't like the policy result on some issue. They may think abortion shouldn't be legal, or that there should be more gun control or their taxes are too high. And they are mad that the world is not as it should be. So they think that by hurting legislators they will be avenging an evil policy decision (or a series of them). But the fact is, that they will really just be punishing their state.
Daylin
Labels: Cost Cutting Commission, Reform
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