I do not support term limits. I believe it is strongly against the public interest to dumb done legislative bodies by limiting the tenure of public officials. This legislative session has the potential to be my most productive one yet, because of the combination of 33 years of legislative experience and Democratic majority status and a Democratic governor.

How long I serve as a state legislator is up to the voters. I have no intention of quitting at any time in the forseeable future.

In this legislative session, I support Governor Rendell's strong environmental initiatives, which now require no new taxes to achieve because of revenue growth.

I support greater mass transit funding, which will require some new taxes, but is worth the investment. I do not support a sale or long-term lease of the Pennsylvania Turnpike because if would involve both the surrender of long-term state control and ultimately much higher tolls.

After securing a 113% increase in the minimum wage since 1987, I realize that minimum wage workers still live in poverty. Other states have passed us in their determination to reduce poverty, and Pennsylvania's highest potential minimum wage is now only at the bottom of the top half of American states. I am leading the charge to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage to $9.35 by 2010, with cost of living increases thereafter.

I am an active member of the Speaker's Commission on Legislative Reform, which should wrap up its work in the next month or so. I look forward to being involved in recommendations for a stronger open records law and a law limiting financial contributions along the federal model.

Previously, the Commission and the members of the House have enacted my proposals to place recorded committee testimony on the Internet, to recognize the increasing and long-delayed active participation of a significant number of women in the House and as high-level House staffers by using gender neutral language in the House rules, and to provide links to members on House web pages printing the text of proposed legislation.

A proposal to mandate ethics training for state legislators that I strongly supported is now halfway home, with drafting completed and Commission backing secured.

Yesterday I was appointed the Democratic House member in charge of Real I.D. legislation for the House Governmental Affairs Committee. The federal Real I.D. program raises huge issues of civil liberties and unfunded mandates.

I intend to be a state representative as long as the voters in my district want me to continue to serve them. I totally oppose term limits because they work to dumb down the legislature and they vastly increase the domination of the governor's office and big-money special interests and bureaucrats. Many, many hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians are qualified to serve in the legislature, but there is a vast amount of information that must mastered to be effective. Long-term service is almost always key to gaining the mastery of relevant knowledge needed to have a meaningful impact.

I believe term limits have little support in either the House or the Senate. The fact that the voters defeated roughly two dozen incumbents in 2006 shows the viability of the electoral process. It simply is not true that incumbents are certain to win re-election against good challengers.

Mcdphilly is one of a small group of people who find legislation interesting. I strongly hope that number will grow over time.

In this session, I am leading efforts to raise the minimum wage to $9.35 by 2010; to get the Women, Infants, and Children program funded by the federal government some state money for nutrition education; to mandate that cigarettes sold in Pennsylvania must be the kind that stop burning after not not being smoked, so that they are less likely to cause fires; to create a pro-active role in the Department of Health for exposing cancer clusters; to expand the city of Philadelphia's targeted crime prevention efforts aimed at those young people who have the greatest potential of becoming murderers or other serious criminals; and to get Pennsylvania into an interstate compact of states that will pledge, once they constitute an electoral college majority, to vote for the popular vote winner of Presidential elections.

As a member of the Speaker's Commission on Legislative Reform, I have already pushed through initiatives to place House committee testimony on the Internet; to recognize the important presence of women in all phases of House operations by re-writing the rules in gender neutral language; and to link House internet page publication of proposed legislation with House member email addresses for improved public access.

I was also a major force for getting the Commission to vote to support mandatory ethics training for legislators--a proposal which is now midway through the legislative process.

I strongly support Commission recommendations of further reforms, such as campaign finance limits similar to those of the federal government and improved open records legislation.

Within the budget process, I support greater funding for mass transit across the state, and greater aid to Philadelphia and other communities for education and crime prevention.

As a member of the State Government Committee, I will continue to be active in issues of governmental reform, improving the elections process, regulating Philadelphia Waterfront development, and preserving citizens right to sue for damages.

As a member of the Intergovermental Affairs Committee, I will be continue to be active in pressuring the federal government to work for the interests and values of Pennsylvania citizens, in everything from continuing federal funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program to dealing with whatever foreign policy concerns of Pennsylvania citizens can command a majority of the House.

As a member of the Agriculture Committee, I will continue to work for both safe pet food (pet food is regulated by the Department of Agriculture) and an end to cruel practices of dog breeders (also regulated by the Department of Agriculture).

In the course of a legislative session, I am involved with many hundreds of bills and amendments, and I welcome (indeed I hope for) input from readers of this site and members of the young philly politics community.

d

Dan--you raise an important point here. Voting the right way is not always indicative of a good representative. I'd rather disagree 10% of the time with my rep. but have her actually pass some legislation.

Successful candidates for the legislature are almost always self starters. Running a campaign for the legislature takes massive amounts of time, energy, thought, money, outreach and so forth, and it is a very rare successful candidate who entered the race persuaded by someone else to run. Bob Brady, pushed into the race by allies, is an example of what normally happens to drafted candidates: they get creamed.

I have strongly encouraged people in Republican districts to consider running for the legislature. Those who have won in Republican districts, however, have been those who have entered the race at their own initiative.

The only time I was able to persuade an ultimate winner to run was in an open seat situation in a Democratic primary. I persuaded a former legislator well-liked in his district (he had carried it big in his narrowly losing race for the State Senate)to seek another term in the House.

Basically, people who are contacted and urged to run want guarantees of financial support before they commit to run. The Democratic Party simply does not have the resources to make such guarantees to long-shot candidates.

Bill Rieger represented a low-income district for 40 years because he was attentive to the needs of many of his candidates of his constituents. He shunned public relations activities to his detriment, but for many years was a source of genuine help to people who needed it. He was inarticulate in public speaking, but very articulate in private advice he gave to colleagues and constituents.

It certainly would aid the image of any group of people if every member of the group would be a paragon of perfection. In the real world, however, members of Congress, state legislators, City Council members, lawyers, doctors, teachers, journalists, blacks, whites, Latinos, Asians, gays, men, women, parents, guardians, husbands, wives, etc. have to deal with the fact that some members of their group do things that are wrong. People in whatever group should be judged as individuals, not on the basis of the collective image of group members.

And those who seek to judge others should recognize that others also judge them. Those who set forth extremely high standards for others meet tend to be harshly judged when it turns out that they cannot meet their standards either. The decline of Newt Gingrich is a perfect example of what can happen to someone who believes that high standards only exist for others to meet.

That District is very lucky to have Tony Payton, Jr., as the new State Representative. Now the citizens and their needs can be truly represented in Harrisburg. But don't forget that the party opposed him even when he was the only democrat on the ballot. Those most vocal in their opposition of Mr. Payton now have legal issues of their own....see the front page of today's DN.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
— Margaret Mead

Seth