PA House GOP: End Pay-to-Play
HARRISBURG - With the goal of reforming state contracting procedures for the three branches of government, Reps. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver), Craig Dally (R-Lehigh), Robert Godshall (R-Montgomery), Glen Grell (R-Cumberland), Douglas Reichley (R- Berks/Lehigh) and Republican Whip Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) introduced a package of bills today that aim to effectively end pay-to-play politics in Pennsylvania.
The recent allegations of corruption against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the situation with David Rubin and CDR Financial Products, and the reasons Arizona Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his federal cabinet nomination are nationwide indicators of what is going on, and why Pennsylvania needs stronger laws prohibiting pay-to-play, the legislators said.
"The recent allegations of corruption against Blagojevich, the swirling situation surrounding the award of millions of dollars in no-bid legal services contracts by Governor Ed Rendell to his old law firm, and now the information that Deloitte Touche has turned the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) into its own satellite office compel all Pennsylvanians to be concerned about the manner in which the public dollars are being spent," said Reichley. "The disclosures over the last year of possible favoritism in awarding contracts leads us to worry that Pennsylvania is not immune to the perception that it's not what you can do but who you know that gets you preferential treatment in government contracts. Pennsylvania needs laws in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever occur in our state."
During his six years in office, Rendell has taken advantage of a weak state law to give preferential consideration to former associates in his former law firm and campaign contributors who have received lucrative contracts for state services without any competitive bidding.
"As President Obama said last week, we need to ensure the public that in this difficult economic time, there cannot be double standards for government officials. We need to reassure our citizens that in an era when the Wall Street bailout has revealed dubious use of public funds, that when a company donates to a successful political campaign, it is not a back-door way for the company to receive lucrative no-bid state contracts," said Reichley. "We can have no tolerance for a perception that government is for sale.
"The revelations today about the method in which Deloitte Touche has insinuated its way into the contracting procedures at DPW leads us to the conclusion we need to end the revolving door atmosphere where lobbyists are hired by state agencies, work in state government for a period to assist their former employer, and then return to the private sector to work on contracts they had a hand in writing while working on the public dollar," said Reichley.
"We need an open bidding process across the board in state government," Turzai said. "This is necessary to restore trust. The taxpayers demand and deserve this type of openness and accountability."
Proposed reforms include:
· House Bill 205 (sponsored by Godshall) bans any contract from being awarded to a person, partnership or corporation that donated to the campaign of a candidate for statewide or local office within one year of the date a contract is posted for public bidding. This includes contracts at the state, municipal, county or school district level and any officeholder with discretionary control over contracts.
· House Bill 381 (sponsored by Turzai) removes "legal services" from the definition of those contracts that can be awarded by the governor under the emergency provisions of the Procurement Code. This should be restricted to natural disasters or extraordinary events.
· House Bill 382 (sponsored by Grell) requires any extension of an existing state contract for services to be posted on the Department of General Services Web site for 10 business days before the contract is submitted to the attorney general for review of form and content to allow competitor bidders to indicate interest.
· House Bill 383 (sponsored by Reichley) requires any contract to be let by the executive branch or any legislative caucus with an initial value more than $100,000 to be the subject to the Procurement Code and undergo competitive bidding and requires the awarding of contracts only to firms on an approved list of contractors.
· House Bill 384 (sponsored by Dally) prohibits law firms from receiving more than $500,000 in state legal services contracts in any single year without open and competitive bidding.
· House Bill 385 (sponsored by Christiana) proposes a new ethical code of conduct for executive branch employees in state government. Any new executive branch employee would be prohibited from working in an area in which they lobbied the executive branch before working for the state for two years prior to state employment. This would also restrict executive branch employees leaving state employment from lobbying that same branch of government for two years. This is similar to the policy recently imposed by President Barack Obama on federal executive branch employees.
Some of the bills are still being circulated for co-sponsorship, but will be introduced in the near future.
The recent allegations of corruption against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the situation with David Rubin and CDR Financial Products, and the reasons Arizona Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his federal cabinet nomination are nationwide indicators of what is going on, and why Pennsylvania needs stronger laws prohibiting pay-to-play, the legislators said.
"The recent allegations of corruption against Blagojevich, the swirling situation surrounding the award of millions of dollars in no-bid legal services contracts by Governor Ed Rendell to his old law firm, and now the information that Deloitte Touche has turned the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) into its own satellite office compel all Pennsylvanians to be concerned about the manner in which the public dollars are being spent," said Reichley. "The disclosures over the last year of possible favoritism in awarding contracts leads us to worry that Pennsylvania is not immune to the perception that it's not what you can do but who you know that gets you preferential treatment in government contracts. Pennsylvania needs laws in place to ensure that nothing like this can ever occur in our state."
During his six years in office, Rendell has taken advantage of a weak state law to give preferential consideration to former associates in his former law firm and campaign contributors who have received lucrative contracts for state services without any competitive bidding.
"As President Obama said last week, we need to ensure the public that in this difficult economic time, there cannot be double standards for government officials. We need to reassure our citizens that in an era when the Wall Street bailout has revealed dubious use of public funds, that when a company donates to a successful political campaign, it is not a back-door way for the company to receive lucrative no-bid state contracts," said Reichley. "We can have no tolerance for a perception that government is for sale.
"The revelations today about the method in which Deloitte Touche has insinuated its way into the contracting procedures at DPW leads us to the conclusion we need to end the revolving door atmosphere where lobbyists are hired by state agencies, work in state government for a period to assist their former employer, and then return to the private sector to work on contracts they had a hand in writing while working on the public dollar," said Reichley.
"We need an open bidding process across the board in state government," Turzai said. "This is necessary to restore trust. The taxpayers demand and deserve this type of openness and accountability."
Proposed reforms include:
· House Bill 205 (sponsored by Godshall) bans any contract from being awarded to a person, partnership or corporation that donated to the campaign of a candidate for statewide or local office within one year of the date a contract is posted for public bidding. This includes contracts at the state, municipal, county or school district level and any officeholder with discretionary control over contracts.
· House Bill 381 (sponsored by Turzai) removes "legal services" from the definition of those contracts that can be awarded by the governor under the emergency provisions of the Procurement Code. This should be restricted to natural disasters or extraordinary events.
· House Bill 382 (sponsored by Grell) requires any extension of an existing state contract for services to be posted on the Department of General Services Web site for 10 business days before the contract is submitted to the attorney general for review of form and content to allow competitor bidders to indicate interest.
· House Bill 383 (sponsored by Reichley) requires any contract to be let by the executive branch or any legislative caucus with an initial value more than $100,000 to be the subject to the Procurement Code and undergo competitive bidding and requires the awarding of contracts only to firms on an approved list of contractors.
· House Bill 384 (sponsored by Dally) prohibits law firms from receiving more than $500,000 in state legal services contracts in any single year without open and competitive bidding.
· House Bill 385 (sponsored by Christiana) proposes a new ethical code of conduct for executive branch employees in state government. Any new executive branch employee would be prohibited from working in an area in which they lobbied the executive branch before working for the state for two years prior to state employment. This would also restrict executive branch employees leaving state employment from lobbying that same branch of government for two years. This is similar to the policy recently imposed by President Barack Obama on federal executive branch employees.
Some of the bills are still being circulated for co-sponsorship, but will be introduced in the near future.
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Comments
The withdrawal of Bill Richardson recently made the headlines. In his case CDR gave money to Si SE Puede, a PAC formed to help pay Richardson's expenses at the 2004 Democratic Convention. In exchange its argued that CDR received favorable treatment in regards to bids to do business for GRIP (Govenor Richardson's Investment program), bid rigging in short.
Another aspect of pay for play, and one more likely to land a politician in jail is CDR's tactic of finding friends, fundraisers and associates of elected Democrats, and hiring them as "Consultants". In New Mexico it was Richardson friend Mike Stratton who was hired by CDR. On a side note the Director of Si Se Puede Fred Duval was hired by UBS ,a Swiss bank, as a consultant. UBS was also one of several banks that ended up receiving a cut of the GRIP pie. The collusion of CDR, elected Democrat, and consultants that occurred in New Mexico is similar to other CDR linked scandals. In Philadelphia it was Ron White (now deceased) who received money and super bowl tickets from the company and was hired as a consultant. He was also an associate and fundraiser for Philly Mayor Sharpe. In Pennsylvania as a whole it was Alan Kessler who was the chief lobbyist for CDR and a top fundraiser for Ed Rendell. The most egregious example would be Mayor Larry Langford of Birmingham Alabama, who is accused in a 101 count indictment of using his friend William Blount and lobbyist Albert LaPierre to funnel money, jewelry, cloths, and watches into his hands in exchange for government favors while he was President of the Jefferson County Commission. Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham is on the precipice of the greatest municipal bankruptcy in history. There are also questions of CDR's actions in Atlanta and several of municipalities and CDR is currently being sued by over 20 school districts and cities in addition to the criminal investigations.
http://46in08.blogspot.com/2009/01/cdr-david-rubin-bill-richardson.html
http://46in08.blogspot.com/2009/01/cdr-david-rubin-bill-richardson.html