Bringing necessary change to the state Legislature from within, through the efforts of "reformers," apparently has failed. This is the conclusion to be drawn from the recent announcement by state Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith, D-West Chester, that she will not seek re-election when her term ends in late 2010.

Smith was elected in November 2006 with 50 other new lawmakers in the aftermath of the legislative pay-raise scandal of 2005. Many of those newly elected House members and senators were part of a reform effort intended to change many of the disfunctional aspects of the General Assembly. Middle-of-the-night votes, abuses of the expense system, overly generous benefits and automatic pay increases were all targets of reformers. The newcomers also hoped to limit the ability of a handful of legislative leaders to thoroughly dominate the political process by rewarding suppoters and punishing those who don't go along or try to change the system.

Smith is the second of the reformers class of 2006 to announce they will leave the Legislature.

Lisa Bennington, a Democrat from Pittsburgh, was another new lawmaker hoping to make changes in Harrisburg. But earlier this year, Bennington announced that she had grown frustrated with her inability to bring about change opposed by entrenched party leaders.

In announcing her decision to not seek re-election, Smith recalled being repeatedly told by House leadership, "We don't want to hear any more about reform. We've done reform."

The basic message from party leaders in both the House and the Senate is, "We like the way we have things working (for us), so sit down and shut up."

The ability of a few party leaders to shut down or dilute reform efforts and frustrate those few lawmakers trying to make changes in the way Harrisburg works is not new. Former state Rep. Pat Carone, who represented the Cranberry Township area, tried to bring about reform in the 1990s as both a Democrat and Republican. She met resistance from party leaders as both a Republican and a Democrat. So, after several years of frustration, Carone, like Smith and Bennington, decided not to run for re-election.

It's discouraging that, even after the outrage generated by the pay-raise vote of 2005, voters cannot send enough new lawmakers to bring about meaningful change to how the Legislature does business. The small group of party leaders apparently is so powerful that only a few modest changes are the result of months of voter disgust and a historic infusion of new lawmakers.

In most other states, voters could use ballot referendums to force changes in state government. Not in Pennsylvania. Here, the General Assembly stands in the way of voters putting referendums on the ballot, and only those provisions approved by the Legislature can appear on the ballot.

So if voters decide Pennsylvania doesn't need to have the largest, most expensive state Legislature and they want to reduce the number of lawmakers, it has to be approved by the very lawmakers who could lose their jobs and generous benefits.

When the interests of taxpayers and citizens collide with the interests of lawmakers, lawmakers win.

Smith has concluded, as have other reform-minded people, that the solution is a constitutional convention. Proponents, who note that the last constitutional convention in Pennsylvania was in 1968, are pushing for another convention in 2011.

They are right. Despite the efforts of a few lawmakers, the Legislature has failed to reform itself. The experiences of Smith and Bennington demonstrate that reform from inside the General Assembly is impossible, as the leadership has demonstrated its intent — and ability — to maintain the status quo.

Many voters seem to have given up hope that Harrisburg can be made more effective and responsive to voters — and that surrender is exactly what legislative leaders expect and want. But fresh reminders, from former state Sen. Vincent Fumo's recent conviction on corruption charges to the ongoing Bonusgate affair and related scandals, will keep the public keenly aware of the need for reforming the Legislature from the outside, meaning a constitutional convention.

A constitutional convention in 2011 is the best hope for bringing real change to Harrisburg to make state government more responsive to the people, and less a vehicle for a handful of self-serving, entrenched lawmakers to retain power.