My plan to reduce the size and cost of Pennsylvania's legislature and make Government work more efficiently on behalf of its constituents.
- Pennsylvania's state government is large and unwieldy. We have the largest number of legislators per 100,000 people in the entire country. We currently spend 462 million dollars on the legislature alone; our legislators are the second highest paid in the country, next to California. Incumbent State Senator Bob Mensch voted against cutting the legislative budget or his own pay, opting instead to cut funding to public library's and the Department of Environmental Protection. Shrinking the size and cost of our state's legislative body should be a priority. Your local government knows and understands the important issues for your community better than your state government. Local government is closer to the community, and intimately entwined in its well-being. Shrinking the size of state government will make local governments more influential and important. The state legislature can be made smaller and more efficient by consolidating legislative districts, and making districts more interdependent on each other. The result will be much better constituent services and a smaller legislative budget. Less legislators and shared legislative offices means more money in the pockets of tax payers.
- We must work to eliminate hidden legislative expenses, such as per diems, stipends, and extra staff expenditures. Until our legislature solves the pension-funding crisis, legislators' pensions should be frozen. No-bid contracts should be a thing of the past. We should also make those who do business with the state of Pennsylvania accountable for every dollar they spend, and make sure every contractor meets its contracted obligation.
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