Gibbons, See discuss state government
The Butler Eagle has asked candidates in six contested races to answer questions about their campaigns.
Today's installment is the race for the 10th state House District seat between incumbent Democrat Jaret Gibbons and Republican challenger Michael See. The questionnaire was divided into two parts.
This is the second part dealing with how state government should be run. The first part on campaign issues appeared in Sunday's edition.
The 10th district includes the following communities in Butler County: Slippery Rock and Slippery Rock Township. Candidates for the 12th state House District seat will be featured Tuesday and Wednesday.
QUESTION: Do you support a constitutional convention to consider increasing a House members term from two to four years and to limit the number of terms?GIBBONS: In each of my first two legislative sessions, I have introduced government reform legislation, including a bill (currently House Bill 1568) that would provide four-year terms for representatives and six-year terms for senators. In addition to longer terms, my House Bill 1568 would further legislative reform by imposing 12-year term limits for both representatives and senators. I am also a co-sponsor of legislation providing for a limited constitutional convention (House Bill 1761) that could address these and other government reform issues.
SEE: Yes, but I do not agree that a House member's term should be 4 years.
QUESTION: Do you favor transparency in how the millions of dollars in special leadership accounts are spent?GIBBONS: I support transparency in all state spending. All information relating to state spending, including all legislative accounts, should be publicly available, which is why I co-sponsored and voted for legislation that would create the Pennsylvania Government Accountability Portal (PennGAP), a searchable database of all state spending (House Bill 1880). The bill passed the House and is in the Senate State Government Committee. I also support an independent audit of legislative expenses by either the elected Auditor General or an independent auditing firm.
SEE: Absolutely. All political expenditures should be tracked. Leadership should not be afraid or ashamed of how money is spent.
QUESTION: Should per diem payments to legislators be stopped, or tied to actual expenses?GIBBONS: I believe legislators should be reimbursed for food and lodging expenses while traveling away from home in a method acceptable to the Internal Revenue Service for reimbursement of business expenses. However, all legislative expenses, including reimbursements for travel regardless of the method, should be open and publicly available, which is why I post all of my legislative expenses on my House website.
SEE: Per diem payments are abused by legislators. My opponent took over $24,000 in per diem payments in 2009. That is far more than the cost of food and lodging for the approximately 150 days he spent in Harrisburg.
QUESTION: Do you support halting all payments and benefits to staff members while they are on leave to work on a political campaign?GIBBONS: Yes. I agree that no state employee, including legislative staff, should be permitted to take leave to work on political campaigns and receive any type of state compensation or benefits.
SEE: Yes. If the political campaign wants to pay staff members it can do so with campaign funds.
QUESTION: Do you support halting per diems to legislators if the budget is not passed by June 30?GIBBONS: I support the suspension of all pay and travel reimbursements for the governor and all legislators if a budget is not passed by the beginning of the new fiscal year, which is why I voluntarily did not accept a paycheck or per diem payments during last year's budget impasse while other state workers were not being paid.
SEE: Yes. However, if we have a governor who is a millionaire, like Ed Rendell, he could just dig his heels in and refuse to pass a budget until legislators acquiesced to his demands.
QUESTION: Do you support a smaller, perhaps part-time Legislature?GIBBONS: I introduced legislation to create a smaller, more efficient unicameral General Assembly, which would reduce the size of the legislature by 20 percent, saving $90 million by eliminating unnecessary duplication in the legislative process.I have also supported a 10 percent reduction in legislative appropriations since being elected in 2006 and support additional savings through other recommendations, such as consolidating legislative departments, without diminishing the voice of the average citizen.A part-time legislature would yield significant power to the governor, legislative leaders, and lobbyists while diminishing the voice of rank-and-file members representing the average citizen, but a full-time, professional legislature allows well-informed representatives to balance these special interests while addressing the complex issues facing our state in today's rapidly changing world.
SEE: Absolutely. This would result in legislatures who are not full-time politicians.This would mean the members of your legislature would be members of your community who took their extra time to serve you and many of their votes would be cast differently.
QUESTION: Some of proposed changes suggested in the preceding questions would require a constitutional convention. Would you support calling for such a convention?GIBBONS: I am a co-sponsor of legislation providing for a limited constitutional convention (House Bill 1761) that could address these and other government reform issues.
SEE: Yes. But we have to be careful about changing the constitution. It is not a document we should change on a political whim. That being said, the challenges we are facing could be greatly addressed at such a convention.
