Details of a “pay to play” culture that reportedly existed at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission will be heard this week at hearings related to corruption charges stemming from a 44-month grand jury probe.

The grand jury report found that the Turnpike Commission multimillion-dollar contract awards were influenced by state senators. There were also reports of political contributions from bidders, including gifts and travel. Bidders for Turnpike contracts were also pressed to purchase thousands of dollars worth of tickets to state senators’ fundraising events.

The state Senate confirms commission members and connections between both organizations are close, to the point of being incestuous.

For decades, it’s been an open secret that the Turnpike Commission was dominated by politics, nepotism, little accountability and inefficient operations. It’s also been apparent that contracts were often awarded to politically connected companies. The grand jury report can be seen as confirmation of corruption that’s been talked about for years.

Leaders in the state Senate appear to have used the Turnpike Commission as their fiefdom, to reward campaign contributors and encourage contributions from bidders for turnpike work.

Former state Sen. Robert Mellow is alleged to have had a heavy hand in commission operations. Mellow, now in prison on unrelated corruption charges, reportedly pressed the commission to hire PNC Bank for bond work after a PNC executive and friend of Mellow’s complained to the then-senator.

In another case, the grand jury found that a Colorado-based firm, Ciber, Inc., was awarded an $80 million contract through improper influence. That contract will be rebid. But given the pervasive pay-to-play culture, every contract awarded by the Turnpike Commission during the period reviewed by the grand jury probe should be rebid.

If accused officials, including former turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier, 65, are charged, convicted and go to prison, there might be some deterrence to prevent future corruption. But given the culture of the Turnpike Commission and the close ties with the state Senate, more drastic action is necessary.

Mark Compton, the new Turnpike CEO, promises an aggressive cleanup and says he’ll create a new culture. But we’ve heard that before. A better solution would be to abolish the commission and fold it into the state Department of Transportation, an idea promoted by several state lawmakers.

But corruption, inefficiency and politics are not the only problems at the Turnpike Commission. The agency is loaded with a growing mountain of debt, mostly due to the ill-fated Act 44, which called for tolling I-80 and using the new toll revenue to increase funding for PennDOT. But while the I-80 tolling plan was rejected by the federal government, the $450 million-a-year payment part of Act 44 remained, forcing Turnpike debt to skyrocket to nearly $8 billion, and triggered toll increases.

The state Legislature is negligent in not having already dealt with the gutted Act 44, by ending the $450 million annual payments to PennDOT.

This week’s hearings will provide details of corruption and political influence at the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. Exposure of the commission’s culture of insider dealing, political influence and gaming the bidding system for the benefit of state senators should build support for abolishing the commission.

Such a deeply rooted culture of corruption and politics makes it impossible to have faith in any promised clean-up effort. Ending the commission and letting PennDOT manage the Turnpike’s duties is a better solution.