Craig Dally: Time to End "Pay to Play" Politics in Pennsylvania

Pay to play is so prevalent in the Keystone State that our abbreviation should be changed to PAY. You know things are pretty bad when state senator Vince Fumo's five-month public corruption trial takes a back seat to predatory Luzerne County judges. Modern day Fagins, they sent young Artful Dodgers into juvenile detention facilities and received hefty kickbacks for their trouble. Former state house Democratic whip Mike Veon is under indictment for Bonusgate, and current state house Democratic whip and payjacker Bill DeWeese likely will soon be Defendant DeWeese.

Like living near Chrin landfill, we eventually get used to the smell. Ann McHale wanted to infect Northampton County Council with Christian Perrucci, a Bethlehem attorney and playa' who has padded the campaign coffers (defense funds?) of both Veon ($4,000) and DeWeese ($1,000). I hear he's a nice guy. McHale failed. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who actually collects business cards from city vendors so he can later solicit campaign contributions from them, bristles at the suggestion of any ethical improptiety.

After all, he went to bible college.

This goes on at the gubernatorial level, too, except boatloads more money is involved. Get this. A Houston law firm just happens to cough up $91,100 for the Guv's coffers, and Rendell manages to find some way to award a no-bid contract to that very firm for some lawsuit against some drug manufacturer. At least Rendell makes no hypocritical bible college claim. He hopes the firm gets millions.

State Rep. Craig Dally (R-Northampton), a reformer, has had enough. His office issued a news release on Friday, and I am publishing it here in its entirety.


"A recent Wall Street Journal editorial, 'The State Lawsuit Racket -- A case study in the politician-trial lawyer partnership,' was especially troubling because the case occurred right here in Pennsylvania.

"The Journal described a motion by Janssen Pharmaceutical, a defendant in a torts case, that was seeking to invalidate a contingency fee contract signed by the Rendell administration. Janssen’s argument was based on the grounds that the contract was obtained by the law firm through corrupt means.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer also reported on the story detailing the relationship between the Texas law firm of Bailey, Perrin, Bailey and the Rendell administration.

"The editorial described the timing of more than $90,000 in campaign contributions to Gov. Ed Rendell’s 2006 re-election effort from F. Kenneth Bailey, founder of the law firm, as well as what can best be described as a sweetheart deal that the law firm secured from the state for its services in the case.

"The Bailey case is the most dramatic incident of what some might call 'pay-to-play' in Pennsylvania. During his six years in office, Rendell has taken advantage of a weak state law in order to give preferential consideration to campaign contributors and associates in his former law firm.

"Earlier this session, concerned about the appearance of a 'pay-to-play' system in Pennsylvania, I joined a group of House members in sponsoring legislation to reform state contracting procedures for all three branches of government. Now, more than ever, I believe the measures are essential to protect Pennsylvanians’ tax dollars.

"The bills we introduced aim to effectively end pay-to-play politics in Pennsylvania.

"The measure I sponsored, House Bill 384, would prevent exactly what happened in the Jansen case. It prohibits law firms from receiving more than $500,000 in state legal services contracts in any single year without open and competitive bidding. The law also forbids the Commonwealth and any of its agencies from entering into any contract with a law firm that allows for the payment to the firm to be based upon a contingent fee arrangement. This is the third session that I introduced the bill.

"Other bills in the package would:

"1) Ban 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 levels and any officeholder with discretionary control over contracts.
"2) Remove “legal services” from the definition of 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.

"3) Require 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 in an effort to allow competitor bidders to indicate interest.

"4) Require any contract to be let by the executive branch or any legislative caucus with an initial value more than $100,000 to be subject to the Procurement Code and undergo competitive bidding and requires the awarding of contracts only to firms on an approved list of contractors.

"If the governor is serious about restoring the public’s trust in state government, he should come out in support of my efforts and others who have been trying to reform Harrisburg for years."

Blogger's Note: Dally's bill is in the state government committee. He has attracted twenty-two co-sponsors.