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That oversized legislature of ours

So recently, I got this e-mail alerting me to the recently announced candidacy of Democrat Andrea Baptiste in the 150th Legislative District.

I have no problem whatsoever with Baptiste. On the contrary. I checked out her Web site, and her credentials and she seems to me to be a very strong candidate and a very impressive woman. Apparently, the Montgomery County Area 4 Democrats felt the same way when they endorsed her.

It was the number that struck me.

150th.

15oth?

Yeah, I know. Anyone who’s spent any amount of time living in Pennsylvania and paying attention to the political landscape knows that we have a rather large legislature. Two-hundred-fifty-three members strong, to be exact. Of which 203 are members of the state House.

But seeing those big numbers staring you in the face is another story.

Do we really need 253 men and women to adequately represent our interests in Harrisburg?

That’s pretty much a rhetorical question, because we pretty much all know the answer.

Our legislature is the second-largest in the nation, surpassed only by the General Court of New Hampshire, with its 400 representatives and 24 senators, an amazing statistic from the independently-minded “live free or die” state. And in 2005, our members enjoyed the country’s second-highest base pay making Harrisburg’s the costliest state legislature per capita in the United States (though it’s worth that the state also has one of a only a few full-time legislatures, and on that list, our lawmakers’ salaries are near the bottom).

And what have all of those members and money gotten us? Not much, if last year’s lengthy budget impasse and the disturbing revelations of rampant, institutional and structural corruption coming out of the ongoing Bonusgate investigations are any indication (maybe when they were looking for places to trim the budget they should have looked a little closer to home).

There have been many calls over the last few years for a constitutional convention in the commonwealth to remake the structure of our government in a way that better suits our needs, calls that, on the surface, may seem a little crazy. Constitutional conventions? Didn’t those things go out with the 18th century?

But are they so crazy?

It’s not like our elected representatives are ever going to vote themselves out of a job. And it would seem that the only thing that remains “deliberate” about this body is its members’ penchant for political game-playing, one-upmanship and a willingness to do what’s necessary to hold on to power.

This serves neither the needs of the state nor its citizens.

So what do we do?

Heed the calls of those who want the Commonwealth’s constitution rewritten, the legislature trimmed down and rules reformed to better control the weaker tendencies of human nature? Work to get referenda measures on our ballots a la California, so that we voters can make direct decisions about this and, eventually, 100 other issues every election cycle? Storm the Capitol with pitchforks and torches?

I don’t know what the answer is.

But I do know that the problem is an unwieldy, costly legislature that puts the welfare of the citizenry somewhere near the bottom of its list of priorities.

Anyone got any ideas? Post a comment.

March 1, 2010 at 9:15 am

--Tammy Alonso

Tags: Andrea Baptiste, General Assembly

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