Gee, first-term state Rep. Matt Gabler, who represents Elk County and the DuBois area in Clearfield County, must have been thrilled last week. There he was, at the top of a story in the big-city Morning Call of Allentown, written by respected political reporter John Micek.
Well, not so much.
Here's the start:
State Rep. Matt Gabler is barely seven months into his first term, but he's already schooled in the ways of the capital.
One evening last week, the young Republican greeted lobbyists, fellow lawmakers and others entering his re-election fundraiser in a room above an Irish pub barely a block from the Capitol.
"Where should I put this?" asked one young woman, wielding an envelope probably containing her $250 admission fee. Gabler looked around, shrugged and said, "I guess I'll take it."
Gabler's reception was one of 13 -- nine in the morning and four at night -- that day, a busy one less than a week before the deadline to adopt a new state budget.
Hundreds of millions of tax dollars are in play as lawmakers debate where to cut and where to spend. On this day, one House committee approved a bill expanding prescription drug benefits for senior citizens, and another signed off on legislation imposing a tax on the natural gas extracted from drilling fields in rural Pennsylvania.
Shame on Gabler?
Might as well criticize him for crossing the street to get to the Capitol. Every other state legislator does the same thing.
It's the system.
Now, expecting incumbents to vote to change the system is like expecting workers to vote to cut their pay. It does happen, but don't count on it.
The story points up the need for Pennsylvania to have another Constitutional convention, because a convention - with incumbent legislators and their staff members barred from being delegates, in our opinion - is the only way to get reforms enacted.
In this instance, fundraisers and contributions by lobbyists should be banned while the Legislature is in session. That would at least put at arm's length the swapping of envelopes for votes.
The contributions can't be banned altogether, of course, especially in light of last week's Supreme Court decision, which correctly allowed corporations some say in elections - but went way further than necessary and overturned decades of settled law limiting "big money" campaigning.
But a Constitutional convention could set some limits, so Gabler and other lawmakers would all be playing by the same set of rules.
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Denny Bonavita