Newspaper: Lawmakers should pay price for 'dysfunctional government'

The editorial board of The Harrisburg Patriot-News, which probably keeps the closest watch on the Pennsylvania Legislature, is a bit miffed at how the Legislature has been conducting itself of late.

From a recent editorial:

You would not -- you could not -- run a business in this manner. Yes, this is government and it's more complicated. But you would think that among the small cadre of so-called "leaders" who actually make the decisions one would emerge to say: "We can do better than this. Sure, we have our differences. Sure, we face a difficult budget year. But let's have some serious discussions earlier rather than later. In the end, we will make better decisions and set a standard for future legislatures and ad ministrations."

The argument that lawmakers always make for their sorry performance is that the voters can kick them out whenever they want. But that's not true. The career politicians who rule Harrisburg have spent decades building an incumbent protection industry that shields them from voters' wrath. And as we've seen with the "Bonusgate" scandal, they'll even cheat and break the law to hold on to power.

The Patriot-News also sees through the excuses:

The General Assembly's blatant dysfunctionality offers about as good as any of the many arguments made in behalf of a smaller legislature. It is too easy and all too common to say: "There is always the ballot box. If you don't like what you see, change whom you send to Harrisburg."

Voters do and they have, and it doesn't make a difference. With 253 lawmakers, even a significant turnover by Pennsylvania standards isn't sufficient to change the tradition and inertia of doing business like this. There needs to be a penalty attached to failing to pass a budget on time, and it needs to apply to each legislator, the governor and his Cabinet. We suggest the permanent loss of two days' pay for every day the state goes without a signed budget.

Read the full editorial, "There should be a price to pay for dysfunctional government," here.

And vote some of the bums out on Nov. 4.