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| - Source: Tim Potts, Co-Founder, Democracy Rising PA, tim@democracyrisingpa.com, 717-243-8570; 717-571-9471 (cell) Monday, December 4, 2006 HARRISBURG (Dec. 4, 2006) – Calling the election of the Speaker of the PA House “the first official vote our Representatives will cast on our behalf,” Democracy Rising PA Co-Founder Tim Potts today said all State Representatives should declare immediately who they intend support for Speaker and why. However, Potts said, many of the 201 other Representatives have experience that qualifies them as contenders for Speaker. · Prohibiting lame-duck sessions.
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| - Source: Tim Potts, Co-Founder, Democracy Rising PA, tim@democracyrisingpa.com, 717-243-8570; 717-571-9471 (cell) Monday, December 4, 2006 HARRISBURG (Dec. 4, 2006) – Calling the election of the Speaker of the PA House “the first official vote our Representatives will cast on our behalf,” Democracy Rising PA Co-Founder Tim Potts today said all State Representatives should declare immediately who they intend support for Speaker and why. Speaking at a news conference in the state Capitol, Potts said, “If our Representatives are truly going to represent us when they elect a Speaker, they should know what we think, and we should know what they think, long before January 2nd.” The state’s Constitution requires the General Assembly to convene at noon on the first Tuesday of January each year. In years following a general election, the Representatives’ first order of business after being sworn in is to elect a Speaker. Typically, the majority party decides who it will nominate for Speaker during its secret November leadership elections. Unlike secret leadership elections, however, the election of the Speaker in January is a recorded vote. Potts said that the Speaker’s election should be a public contest between declared contenders who ask for the support of citizens, through their elected Representatives, for an agenda that strives to give Pennsylvania the best state government in America. “The election of a Speaker has been an inside game for far too long. This year, that’s not good enough. There are way too many inside games in this building,” he said. Potts also called the Speaker’s election a referendum on the decades of leadership of the two presumed contenders, Philadelphia Republican John Perzel and Greene County Democrat H. William DeWeese. House Republicans nominated Perzel for Speaker in November’s caucus elections when preliminary vote counts gave Republicans the majority by a one-seat margin. Last week, the final count in a disputed election gave Democrats a one-seat majority. DeWeese is expected to receive his party’s nomination for Speaker. However, Potts said, many of the 201 other Representatives have experience that qualifies them as contenders for Speaker. “The election of the Speaker is a chance for the Representatives we just elected to hold John Perzel and Bill DeWeese accountable for their arrogance, for their public deceit and their private treachery, for their waste of tax dollars, for their secrecy, for their perks and per diems and pensions, for their limousines and airplanes, for their insults to people who milk cows or create tattoos for a living, for their vindictiveness toward those who disagree with them, for their too-cozy relationship with lobbyists and their too-distant relationship with citizens, for being too self-absorbed and ungrateful to give citizens the high quality of government they want, and for the Pay Raise and all the other times they have violated the Constitution they swore to obey,” Potts said. Potts said every Representative who takes office in January should declare as soon as possible whether he or she supports Perzel or DeWeese or whether the Representative is undecided and seeking another qualified candidate who “will put integrity, value for tax dollars, transparency and citizen confidence at the top of the agenda.” Candidates for Speaker also should state in detail where they stand on the many improvements needed to the House rules, Potts said. The adoption of rules usually is the second official vote Representatives cast after being sworn in. Among changes to the rules that dozens of Representatives and advocates suggested last summer are: · Making per diems a true reimbursement for actual expenses documented by receipts, not a second salary at taxpayer expense. · Requiring an up-to-date public accounting on the Internet of all expenditures by each member. · Making each Representative’s voting record easily, clearly and constantly available to any citizen who wants it. · Prohibiting “gut-and-run” legislation such as the Pay Raise. · Prohibiting lame-duck sessions. · Guaranteeing that each Representative gets a floor vote on at least one bill, which also guarantees that leadership can’t bury good ideas in committee forever. · Prohibiting late-night votes on any legislation. · Making all accounts, including Leadership accounts, subject to the Open Records Act and an independent audit using the highest standards of the auditing profession.
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