With a steady stream of scandals coming out of Harrisburg since the pay-grab of 2005, it's possible that voters will become numb to the latest outrages and assume things will never change. But becoming desensitized to abuses by government officials would be a terrible mistake.

Change can — and must — come to Harrisburg. But changing a culture dominated by arrogance, a general sense of entitlement and lavish spending (especially when it involves other people's money — taxpayers' money), will take continued pressure and time.

The latest scandals provide more fuel for advancing the reform movement in the Capitol. Elected officials are well aware that voters in last year's elections demonstrated that they have no qualms about rejecting abusive incumbent lawmakers — so supporting reform is in the best interests of anyone wanting to keep his or her job in the General Assembly.

The most recent revelations involve additional details of the lavish spending by the board of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), a board dominated by state lawmakers.

Nearly two years ago, when rumors of extravagant spending at board retreats emerged, several news organizations requested detailed records of that spending. PHEAA refused to release its spending records, claiming they contained "trade secrets."

That defense was laughable, and the 19-month court battle to keep the spending records secret was clearly designed to avoid embarrassment.

Based on PHEAA's extraordinary legal battle to keep its spending secret, it was hard not to conclude that the potential embarrassment was substantial. And now that the state Supreme Court has sided with the Harrisburg Patriot-News and two other news organizations, the spending records have been released.

It is now clear why the board fought to keep its spending private.

The board and PHEAA executives spent more than $862,000 for eight board retreats from 2000 to 2005.

Some of the highlights include: $698-a-night rooms and $175 for a falconry lesson at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia and $650 for cigars at Nemacolin Woodlands. Board members or their spouses also enjoyed $115 pedicure-manicures and $100 facials.

While at the Nemacolin retreat, which cost $135,637, guests ran up an $836 bill for fly-fishing lessons, and one state senator enjoyed a hot stone massage for $120. Another member, former Rep. Elinor Taylor, was transported to the retreat via limousine, which cost $966.

Included in the 13,470 pages of documents released by PHEAA were references to a trip for 20 people to a resort and casino in the Dominican Republic. Some of the items in the mountain of unorganized spending records were blacked-out, but the trip to the Dominican Republic resort cost $27,000, and there were references to a chartered Lear jet for a trip to Montana and other locations.

With many spending items blacked-out and the PHEAA"document dump" appearing to be intentionally disorganized, it is likely the agency still is hiding some details of its board's spending.

As shocking as this lavish spending appears to be, it should not necessarily come as a surprise — given the fact that the board is dominated by state lawmakers. These are some of the same state lawmakers who voted themselves a massive pay raise at 2 a.m. on July 7, 2005. These are some of the same lawmakers who opted to use "unvouchered expenses" to get the higher pay faster than allowed by the state constitution. These are some of the same lawmakers who collect per-diem payments for days they are in Harrisburg, regardless of the actual expenses incurred.

And among the PHEAA board members who enjoyed the trips to posh resorts was state Sen.Vincent Fumo, who now is facing federal indictments for misuse of taxpayer dollars for his own personal and political benefit as well as misuse of funds at a nonprofit agency to which he has very close ties.

With lawmakers holding 80 percent of the seats on the PHEAA board, the agency is something of an extension of the state legislature, at least in terms of culture. And the apparent lack of concern over spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of the agency's funds for luxury vacations fits the pattern of entitlement and arrogance seen elsewhere in Harrisburg.

But with each new scandal, there is an unraveling of the pampered lifestyle and the air of unaccountability enjoyed by a few lawmakers, and the abuses of the public trust committed, condoned or ignored by many others.

Like the pay-raise scandal of 2005, the PHEAA scandal is a blessing in disguise. It adds fuel for legislative reform, builds support for a constitutional convention to help prevent future abuses and rekindles voter anger that can be used to continue the purging of Harrisburg of any lawmakers not genuinely committed to change.