Newspaper: Rock the (Legislative) boat

A Berks County newspapers is calling for major change in the Pennsylvania Legislature by encouraging reform candidates to take on the professional political class in Harrisburg.

From the editorial in the Reading Eagle:

The Issue: Our entrenched state lawmakers have not budged on shrinking the size of the Legislature.

Our Opinion: We need candidates willing to rock the boat and knock problematic legislators overboard.

Dear Santa: We don't want to complicate your life, but we're asking for something a little different this year. We want candidates for the state Legislature who rock. By that we mean rock the boat.

We need them because things haven't gone swimmingly for Pennsylvania voters. We struggle to pay our bills with people out of work or living on reduced incomes and having trouble staying afloat, and our lawmakers paddle around in a cushy, oversized boat purchased at our expense.

This, after people have been asking for years that they do something about their bloated rolls: We have 50 senators and 203 representatives to serve 12.5 million Pennsylvanians, making it the largest full-time legislature in the country.

California has almost three times as many people, 36.7 million, yet it makes do with 40 senators and 180 representatives - and Californians deal with earthquakes, mudslides and forest fires.

Read the full editorial at the link below:

Commonwealth needs candidates who rock — the boat (11/27/09)