The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is widely considered to be the last bastion of pay-to-play politics and patronage in Pennsylvania.

Just what that means exactly could be revealed in two separate investigations &tstr; one by the FBI and one by a statewide grand jury.

The FBI is said to be looking into alleged corruption in connection with a $170 million, six-lane widening of the turnpike in the Valley Forge area.

The FBI apparently is investigating whether project managers, in exchange for kickbacks, looked the other way as contractors delivered defective concrete and faulty drainage pipes and took other shortcuts.

FBI agents reportedly raided turnpike offices in Harrisburg last week and carted off computers and other materials.

Meanwhile, a statewide grand jury from Pittsburgh is asking questions about patronage, campaign donations and contracts in connection with the Turnpike Commission.

For years, the Commission has had the reputation as a patronage haven &tstr; a characterization that the agency does not necessarily discourage.

The Commission, like a lot of state agencies, admits to hiring relatives or people recommended to them by politicians &tstr; so long as the applicants were qualified.

Turnpike chief executive Joe Brimmeier, for example, got his son, Joseph Jr., a job as assistant maintenance manager. The younger Brimmeier climbed the ranks to the post of assistant director of regional operations.

Brimmeier also had a job created for one cousin (who was later fired because he didn't show up) and had a another cousin hired as a plumber. A nephew was hired as a communications field technician.

Brimmeier also found a job in the agency for the daughter of a Lawrence County Democratic official.

"I've never denied that when a job applicant comes to me and has a reference from a politician, I follow it up," says Brimmeier. "If I find that he or she is a good person and can do the job, I'll hire them. I'm not ashamed of anything I've done."

He says the same when the applicants are members of his own family.

The Commission's profile has been raised recently &tstr; and not in a good way.

The Commission was mentioned repeatedly in testimony during the federal corruption trial of former state Sen. Vincent Fumo, a Philadelphia Democrat. Fumo was convicted on 137 corruption charges in March and sentenced to 55 months in prison.

In March, Gov. Ed Rendell ousted commission chairman Mitchell Rubin, citing trial testimony that Rubin accepted $150,000 in taxpayer-paid work that apparently was never done. (Rubin has not been charged with any wrongdoing.) Over a five-year period, Rubin reportedly charged $72,000 in expenses to the Commission, including reimbursement for meals at five-star restaurants.

Also, Fumo arranged for an associate, Michael Palermo, to receive $120,000 a year from the turnpike for a consulting job, for which there were no reports. (Two weeks ago, Palermo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Senate of $287,000 for a no-show Senate job from 2004-2008.)

Republican state Sen. Jane Orie would put an end to patronage and pay-to-play by eliminating the five-member Turnpike Commission and its nearly 500 nonunion employees, from administrators to secretaries. She would put the 530-mile system of toll roads under the state Department of Transportation. PennDOT already covers some 40,000 miles of state-owned roads.

Orie's proposal has merit, but the Legislature should hold off until the two investigations run their course.

When all the wrongdoing has been exposed, then Orie or some other legislator can offer comprehensive solutions.