By: STEVE SANTARSIERO Bucks County Courier Times

As a freshman member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives I came to Harrisburg in January 2009 to serve the nearly 60,000 residents

of the Newtown-Yardley area. The truly awe-inspiring beauty of our state Capitol invokes a feeling of great possibility, but it did not take long

for me to experience the weight of inertia in Harrisburg that presses on good ideas and creative discussions.

It is in that vein that I read the recent grand jury report to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. The report was issued on May 24 of this year and

was written at the conclusion of a two-year service by 33 citizens (23 panelists and 10 alternates) who represented many sectors of our

commonwealth. As such, the report was an honest response to the far-reaching investigation into the business and conduct of our General

Assembly.

Let me say at the outset that I agree wholeheartedly with nearly all of the recommendations of the grand jury as noted in my response to the

Courier Times on the main points of the report (while I agree that the question of whether the legislature should be part-time should be

considered, I believe that a reformed legislature would merit full-time status; however, I strongly support cutting the size of the General

Assembly in half and eliminating the many perks offered to legislators).

In fact, one of the recommendations - requiring the forfeiture of all pay and per diems of state legislators for every day a state budget is not

passed after the constitutionally mandated deadline - is the basis of House Bill 2113, which I introduced last December. That legislation has

received bipartisan support, and while it does not include the governor in this requirement, I would be open to an amendment to that effect.

At the core of the grand jury's work was an investigation into activities of elected officials and state employees who allegedly used government

resources for campaign use. The three-year process of allegations, investigations, multiple grand juries and trials has cast a cloud of mistrust over

much of the work done in Harrisburg. It has become clear to me during my 17 months in Harrisburg that more needs to be done to identify

clearly the misuse of government resources for campaign activities as a criminal act with criminal penalties.

In so doing, we would give the public greater assurance that employees and elected officials have stronger rules to follow and clearer penalties

for breaking those rules. House Bill 2546, which I introduced last month, would do just that. It is currently in the State Government Committee

and hopefully will come to the House floor for a vote this year.

These reform bills, as well as many others that I support to address campaign finance reform, voting reforms, the streamlining of government

functions, together with the recommendations of the grand jury, provide a framework for a constitutional convention to reform our state

government. As I have said in the past, I believe that it is time to convene such a convention. My 17 months in the state legislature have

convinced me that it is the only way to strengthen the voice of citizens, regain the trust of the public and re-establish the credibility of our state

government.

To make it happen, people of good will on both sides of the political divide - and the increasing number of citizens who find themselves between

those sides - need to act. They need to write to every member of the state House and Senate as well as to the governor and make their voices

heard, demanding such a convention.

It may seem like a daunting task, but I have seen how grassroots movements can make a difference as a former leader in the group that stopped

the Matrix Development Corp. from building a big-box shopping center in Lower Makefield. When we started, few believed we could succeed,

but we did.

My colleagues in the legislature need to act as well. Those of us who believe in reform need to lead. I have tried to do so as a member of the socalled

Rank-and-File Delegation, a group of about 25-30 House members who came together about a year ago in an effort first to change how

things are done and to give ordinary members a greater say. I also have tried to do so by voluntarily paying toward my own health insurance

and by refusing the many perks of office such as the $163 per diem that can add up to thousands of dollars in additional income each year, the

annual cost of living adjustment and the use of a state car.

The grand jury report is a wake-up call to all of us. It's not too late. But we need to act now.

June 15, 2010