Will reform ever come to Harrisburg?

From an editorial in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Sadly, it seems that only more criminal charges, convictions and prison time will bring about desperately needed reforms of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Analysts say legislators are too fond of the status quo's "incumbent protection." And that makes it unlikely they'll implement commonsense reforms recommended by the same grand jury whose two-year probe resulted in charges of campaigning on the public's dime against 26 current and former legislators and staff members.

Those ideas include reining in House leaders' discretionary-spending accounts, ending per diems, shrinking the size of the Legislature and its staff, reverting to a part-time Legislature and imposing term limits and tougher ethics rules. Absent such reforms -- which would make legislators less likely to become convicts -- Pennsylvania will remain the State of Corruption.

Read the full editorial -- "Reform? Ha!" -- at the newspaper's Web site.