AAUW PUBLIC POLICY CONVERSATIONS – JUNE 2025
“Pennsylvania is the wild west when it comes to governing our politics,” Larry Platt wrote in the 4/18/25 Philadelphia Citizen. “There are no limits on campaign fundraising. Members of our full-time legislature can hold outside jobs. Committee chairs can essentially be on the payroll of those they’re supposed to regulate. Despite being among the nation’s highest paid legislatures ($110,000+ annual base pay), members can claim per Diems—flat rate payments with no paper trail when they travel outside their district. And worst of all, there is no ban on the gifts a member can accept; we’re one of only 10 states that allows its elected representatives to get for themselves all that they can.”
When Democratic Representative Jarod Solomon introduced H.B.744 banning gifts to members of the legislature for the 38th time in the last 25 years, he said, “This is the lucky 38. There is a chasm between what the legislature passes and what the people want. If this came to a vote on the floor, who would be against it? Anyone in Pennsylvania? Anyone in the universe? I want to find the only person who says we should be allowed to accept $1 million vacation homes. Find me that one person.” The reality is that reform gift ban bills never GET to the floor for a vote, persistently suppressed over decades by House and Senate leadership of both parties.
Solomon says it’s entrenched power that oils the status quo. The bi-partisan bill’s Republican co-sponsor, Representative Jim Rigby, told the PA Capital Star (4/7/25), “This is the hard stuff, the egregious stuff, the headline making stuff. I’m talking about the vacation homes, the cars, the jewelry.” H.B. 744 “tries to do something very simple, it says we’re not going to tolerate it.” Solomon noted H.B.744 includes reasonable exceptions as the legislation has in the past. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Harrisburg have rejected claims that expensive gifts rarely influence policymakers’ decisions and that constituents should not be concerned. But for decades, the General Assembly has failed to pass legislation that would end what critics say amounts to legalized bribery.
MarchOnHarrisburg, a non-violent activist group advocating for Pennsylvania campaign reform, ending dark money campaign spending and other issues involving transparency and political accountability, continues to push for the gift ban. Rabbi Michael Pollock who leads gift ban advocates, told the Capital Star that leadership in both chambers are to blame because it’s difficult for them to admit fault in the institutions they oversee and in recognizing their own humanity.
When it comes to reform, what voters want to know is which side are you on? “Are you working for me or are you working for someone else or something else?” “This may be over simplistic, but they like the gifts, including the governor. He’s very skilled at soliciting money in politics. He likes the Super Bowl and Sixers tickets.” “All of these things add up to a really deep culture of corruption. If we don’t do it, we just continue to be governed by smaller and smaller numbers of people with money and influence.”
Lilly Gioia/Advocacy