Nobody has covered the Pennsylvania Legislature longer than John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News. His most recent column, "Real reform lie dying as Legislators strangle hopes," is a sobering account of the state's three-year-old reform movement.
It's not looking good for advocates of good government or accountability.
"Too much of the too-costly Legislature lives in entrenched self-interest," Baer writes. "Efforts at real reform lie dying."
Too many Pennsylvania voters have lost interest in the reform movement that was launched after the July 2005 pay raise fiasco. It's business as usual in Harrisburg and the career politicians are giving the business to the state's beleaguered taxpayers.
We've met the enemy and it's us. It's apathy. It's Democratic Party members unwilling to vote against Democratic lawmakers even when they've betrayed the public trust. While Republicans have shown a willingness to vote out incumbent members of their party who have opposed reform, Democrats continue to vote like lemmings.
Only one incumbent lawmaker was kicked out of office in the April primary although dozens faced opposition from reform candidates.
The rest of Baer's column deals with gerrymandering, a system Pennsylvania lawmakers use to guarantee themselves election time and time again.
Read the full column here.
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