Jake Corman stepped to the podium in the ornate Pennsylvania Senate chamber, his hands shaking just slightly as he adjusted his glasses and mask emblazoned with the Keystone State’s coat of arms.

Lobbyists and lobbying firms are for the first time disclosing their financial interests in companies for which they lobby, offering a rare new look at the money and influence flowing through Pennsylvania’s Capitol.

The culmination of a nearly two-year legal battle last week shattered some of the secrecy that typically surrounds the appointment of state appellate court judges.

At the beginning of the year, The Caucus and Spotlight PA filed public records requests with the state House and Senate for invoices, receipts, and other documents related to the private law firms lawmakers hired at taxpayer expense in 2019 and 2020.

HARRISBURG — A host of politically connected law firms are pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of Pennsylvania legislators, who in turn hire those firms for all types of legal matters on the taxpayer’s dime — and it happens with very little public scrutiny.

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania legislature spent nearly $10 million during the past two years on private lawyers but routinely shielded the purpose of those expenses, hiding which lawmakers and their staff required representation — and why, according to a new investigation.

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Senate for the first time is giving the public online access to the way the chamber and its elected members spend millions of dollars of taxpayer money on themselves.

HARRISBURG – For the first time, millions of taxpayers’ dollars that all of Pennsylvania’s state senators and their staffs spend on travel, meals, per diems and other expenses will be posted online for easier and faster public viewing, The Caucus has learned.

HARRISBURG — Theft charges against a Philadelphia-area Democrat highlight Pennsylvania’s lax rules for reimbursing lawmakers with taxpayer and donor money, two state-run systems with little transparency and even less oversight.

Lobbyists in Harrisburg and throughout Pennsylvania will soon have to disclose any financial interest they have in organizations for which they lobby, the first step in what the General Assembly’s top two Republicans describe as a comprehensive lobbying reform push.

At least three candidates with significant legal experience applied in 2019 to fill a vacancy on one of the state’s two highest appellate courts, but Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf instead tapped a well-connected lawyer for the Republican caucus in the Pennsylvania Senate.

The Pennsylvania Constitution keeps it simple: “The members of the General Assembly shall receive such salary and mileage for regular and special sessions as shall be fixed by law, and no other compensation whatever, whether for service upon committee or otherwise.”