Better oversight, enforcement of public officials is needed, say analysts
By Darwyyn Deyo | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's 253 state legislators reported more than $150,000 in gifts and paid travel for 2010, including two pricey Philadelphia Phillies baseball games.
Legislators are required to submit statements of financial interest to the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission every year, detailing their direct and indirect sources of income, any gifts the legislator received in the past year and any transportation or lodging or hospitality the legislator did not pay for.
State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre, received $748.75 from Coventry First LLC, a life insurance group in Fort Washington, which he said was for tickets to two Philadelphia Phillies baseball games last fall.
Fort Washington is located in the Philadelphia suburbs, well outside of Corman's district.
“They had to divide up the price and that was the number they gave me,” he said.
Corman said the Phillies lost.
State Sen. Joe Scarnati, R-Warren, president pro tempore of the Senate, did not declare any gifts, transportation or hospitality on his statement of financial interest.
No other lawmakers in the north central part of Pennsylvania reported gifts of free travel on their statements, but that does not necessarily mean they did not receive any. Under state ethics laws, only gifts in excess of $250 must be reported, while transportation and hospitality of $650 or more must be reported.
According to information from the National Conference of State Legislatures, Pennsylvania has one of the weakest standards for gift reporting. Eleven states have banned legislators from accepting any gifts, while other states set a monetary threshold over which gifts must be reported.
Tim Potts, co-founder and president of Democracy Rising PA, a nonprofit organization working for integrity in state government, said Pennsylvania should ban public officials from accepting any gifts because there is no way to protect against multiple smaller gifts under the threshold.
“It undermines public confidence when public officials take enormous amounts of money and free gifts,” said Potts. “The people who give these gifts are not stupid. They expect something in return for their generosity, and they get it at the taxpayers’ expense.”
Potts said if legislators “have any regard” for voter confidence in government, a ban would be passed on acceptance of gifts to do away with the current "honor system" when it comes to reporting.
Terry Madonna, a pollster and professor of political science at Franklin and Marshall College, argued the problem with gift acceptance is weak enforcement by the General Assembly, particularly in the wake of the Bonus-gate scandal in which several state lawmakers have faced corruption charges over illegal bonus payments to staffers who did campaign work.
“We’ve got all these lawmakers who come under indictment. We have all these questions raised about campaign finance relative to public corruption, and not a single chamber can bring them to task,” said Madonna. “(The rules) might as well be nonexistent.”
Madonna argued for independent review and enforcement of the rules, and said gift bans and better ethics enforcement would help restore public confidence in government.
