Yesterday, Republican candidate for governor Tom Corbett released his plan for government reform. You can read an overview at Capitol Ideas or the entire thing on Corbett’s website.
Since Corbett has grabbed headlines as a corruption-busting prosecutor — the attorney general has charged more than two dozen state officials with fraud and theft — we expected the plan to call for sweeping changes. But so far the proposals can be described as modest at best.
There are some parts that would shake things up. Corbett promises to increase transparency by putting more state data online, eliminate discretionary grants controlled by legislators, and require lawmakers to pay for their own healthcare plan, which is currently footed by the taxpayers.. He also proposes prohibiting campaign contributions during the procurement process.
However, we couldn’t help but notice that the 1,300 word document didn’t include the terms “campaign finance reform”, “redistricting,” or “lobbyists.” And these are the three biggest factors in the special interest stranglehold over state government.
For example, there are no campaign contribution limits in Pennsylvania. Any person can give an unlimited amount of money to state politicians. Many state candidates — Corbett included — have raised more than $50,000 from a single individual.
If elected governor, Corbett will also have to grapple with the issue of redistricting. New census numbers will require that lawmakers redraw the state political map. Traditionally, legislators used the process to draw safe districts for themselves. How does Corbett think things should be run? There’s nothing in his plan to tell us. Lobbyists too, factor into corruption/good governance, but again he says nothing.
Corbett has made a name for himself battling corruption, but we think he’ll need to broaden his approach to address the underlying issues.
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