Five local lawmakers are behind a plan to turn the nation's largest full-time legislature — yeah, that's ours — into a part-time operation.
Republican Reps. Bryan Cutler, Gordon Denlinger, John Bear, Scott Boyd and Katie True are sponsors of House Bill 1554. It would amend the state constitution to allow for only 60 session days every two years, slash and freeze pay and perks and mandate the passage of a two-year budget.
And what, you ask, would our lawmakers do for the rest of the year? Return home, where they would hold regular jobs.
Who, pray tell, could be against such a wonderful idea as restoring a true citizens legislature to our state? I don't know. Call your lawmaker and ask why he or she hasn't signed on to this bill.
Did you know?
Here's a little tidbit of political trivia: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, is a Lancaster County native. The Los Angeles Times, which profiled Kennedy this week, said she "instills fear in legions of state workers, lobbyists and lawmakers" and is "likely to be remembered as the most enduring force in state government of the last decade."
Kennedy reportedly learned her "hard-driving political skills," in part, by observing environmental activists focused on the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.
"My consciousness was, 'There's people out there that are doing things that they believe in even though it makes everyone hate them,' " she told the Times. "It was something I latched on to."
Veon's witnesses
Jury selection took place this week in the upcoming trial of former state Rep. Mike Veon. In the course of the proceedings, defense attorneys filed a list of more than 100 potential witnesses who might be called to testify, including two dozen sitting legislators.
Among them is Rep. Mike Sturla, a Democrat from Lancaster. Told he was on the list, Sturla was surprised. Asked what his role might be, or what his testimony could center on, he said: "No clue."
Opening statements are expected Feb. 1.
Trendsetting in Salisbury
Democrat Ben Bamford's election to the Lancaster Township Board of Supervisors in November toppled the Republican majority. But it is not the first township to be led by a Democratic-majority board, despite previous reports.
Republican Les Houck, the secretary-treasurer of Salisbury Township in the southeast part of the county, wrote to say that he served with two Democrats on a three-member board from 1976 to 1981. He said the relationship was cordial. "At no time was there any Republican party against the Democratic party, but it always came down to the individuals who were elected and not the party," Houck wrote.
If only the same could be said for the folks in Washington.
What goes on
Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who is trying to unseat Sen. Arlen Specter in the May primary, will hold one of his "kitchen call" meetings at Franklin & Marshall College on Tuesday. The hourlong event, which is open to the public, will be held in Room 102 of Stager Hall. It will begin at 10:15 a.m.
Quotable
U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts says Republican Scott Brown's stunning U.S. Senate victory in Massachusetts Tuesday "is a strong signal that Congress has its priorities wrong."
"The American people want us to focus on job creation, but instead the administration and Congress have been spending all their energy trying to push through an expensive and extremely unpopular health care bill and massive spending bills that are bankrupting our country," said Pitts, also a Republican.