Remarks for a News Conference

Proposing a Special Session of the Legislature on Public Integrity

January 14, 2008

By Tim Potts, Co-Founder

Democracy Rising PA

Good morning. I’m Tim Potts, co-founder of Democracy Rising PA.

On December 19, the coalition of organizations seeking to raise the standards of public integrity in Pennsylvania wrote to Gov. Ed Rendell. We asked him to call a special session of the General Assembly to deal solely with issues of public integrity. We proposed an agenda for the special session, including issues of both statute and Constitution that we believe warrant debate and decision in a special session. And we promised the governor that we would not speak publicly about this request until today.

You have these documents in front of you, and they also are available at the DR News section of www.democracyrisingpa.com.

Today is Day 921 since the Pay Raise of 2005, and our government has done virtually nothing in law or Constitution to improve integrity and prevent more of the scandals on parade that we have seen since the pay raise.

·        Federal prosecutors have indicted a state senator on 139 counts of public corruption and a Superior Court judge for allegedly bilking two insurance companies out of $440,000.

·        State prosecutors have indicted a former lawmaker in an alleged ghost employee scheme involving his sister and niece.

·        We have the most expensive and secretive legislature in America, a legislature that dominates the board of PHEAA, which has wasted enough money in recent years on perks and bonuses to pay for the college education of thousands of students.

·        We have a Supreme Court whose new chief justice disclosed the ruling on a case to a reporter before the decision was issued and whose temperament makes Ralph Cramden look like a model of decorum.

·        Legislative leaders continue to spend millions of tax dollars on campaign-related polling and incumbent protection plans that they refuse to disclose to the citizens who pay for them.

·        The Bonusgate scandal flames on and will only get hotter and brighter by the time the Presidential primary shines its spotlight on our Commonwealth.

Only the governor has the power, granted to him by the citizens of Pennsylvania, to call a Special Session on Public Integrity. Had he used this power years ago, our citizens might have been spared a great deal of political mayhem and anguish, not to mention a great deal of money. Had he used this power just one year ago, as Common Cause urged, 2007 might not have been a wasteland of missed opportunity.

By acting now, Gov. Rendell can do his unique part to prevent more of the same during his final three years and, more importantly, far into the future. Pennsylvania’s state government does not have to remain the most corrupt in America. We can go from worst to first on matters of public integrity.

We know that calling a special session does not guarantee results. But that doesn’t mean it is without value. Otherwise, Gov. Rendell would not have called a Special Session on Energy Policy.

A Special Session on Public Integrity can allow citizens to witness how their government works without the distraction of every other issue. It can be a way for citizens to hold their public officials accountable for the quality of what they propose and the quality of what they do.

This coalition of integrity advocates formed three and a half years ago after the still-unconstitutional enactment of the slots gambling law. We said then, and we say again now: When you compromise the integrity of how things get done, you compromise the integrity of what things get done.

The proposition that corruption costs and integrity saves is beyond dispute. Pennsylvania citizens will continue to pay a high and unnecessary price until we have a Constitution and laws to ensure that integrity guides policy and practice in our state government.

We now call publicly on Gov. Rendell to do what he can by calling a Special Session on Public Integrity. We implore him to use his bully pulpit throughout the Commonwealth to encourage, provoke and, if necessary, shame our legislators into giving Pennsylvania the highest standards of public integrity in America before November’s Election Day.

Thank you.