A group of House Republicans introduced a package of bills today to end "pay-to-play" politics in Pennsylvania.

The bills are aimed squarely at Gov. Ed Rendell, who has awarded more than $1 billion worth of no-bid contracts to politically connected firms during his six years as governor.

From a press release issued by the GOP lawmakers:

"The recent allegations of corruption against Blagojevich, the swirling situation surrounding the award of millions of dollars in no-bid legal services contracts by Governor Ed Rendell to his old law firm, and now the information that Deloitte Touche has turned the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) into its own satellite office compel all Pennsylvanians to be concerned about the manner in which the public dollars are being spent," said state Rep. Douglas Reichley. "The disclosures over the last year of possible favoritism in awarding contracts leads us to worry that Pennsylvania is not immune to the perception that it’s not what you can do but who you know that gets you preferential treatment in government contracts. Pennsylvania needs laws in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever occur in our state."

During his six years in office, Rendell has taken advantage of a weak state law to give preferential consideration to former associates in his former law firm and campaign contributors who have received lucrative contracts for state services without any competitive bidding.

Read the full statement at Reichley's Web site.

And this from an article in today's edition of The Harrisburg Patriot-News by reporter Jan Murphy:

House Republicans, reacting to state Auditor General Jack Wagner's preliminary audit findings on questionable practices that resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in technology contracts for Deloitte, called for state contract reform and a criminal investigation.

At a Capitol news conference, state Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, outlined a list of bills aimed at ending what they describe as "pay-to-play politics in Pennsylvania" and afterward urged Attorney General Tom Corbett to investigate whether improprieties occurred involving Deloitte's work on state contracts as well as Gov. Ed Rendell's administration's failure to cooperate with auditors.

A report in today's edition of The Patriot-News shares findings from Wagner's preliminary audit that cites allegations ranging from vendor favoritism to no-bid contracts, along with concerns about the agencies' secrecy surrounding documents that led to Deloitte landing state contracts.

Read "House Republicans call for contract reform, criminal investigation" at The Patriot-News Web site.