Should the size of Pennsylvania's Legislature be reduced?

That question was posed to Dr. Bompiani and his opponent by the good people that developed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Voter Guide. Here are the responses:

Dr. Bompiani:

Yes. Reducing the size of our Legislature is a fine idea, but it does not address the real problem of run away spending by the legislators themselves. By now, we are all familiar with bonus scandals from the 2006 legislative session. In the 2006 session House Democrats doled out $2.3 million in bonuses to staffers. House Republicans spent $919,000. In the Senate, Democrats handed out $41,000, and Republicans gave $366,000 in bonuses to staffers. The total of those bonuses is $3,626,000. Additionally, every State Senator gets a $10,000 expense account; $15,000 for their district offices; $26,500 for postage; $480 for flags for their constituents; $600 per month for car rentals; and $124 a day while in Harrisburg. This totals $82,424 if you assume that a State Senator spends 6 months out of the year in Harrisburg. Multiply that number by 50 (the number of Senators), and you get $4,121,200. This calculation does not include the base salaries. Before we focus all our attention on reducing the size of the Legislature, we need to focus on making it less expensive for the people.

His Opponent:

I am willing to look at reducing the size of the Legislature. However, we need to make sure that people will still have access to their legislator when they have an issue to discuss or a problem that they need help with. The 39th senatorial district is very large. It is about an hour drive from end to end. If this Senate district is any larger it would be hard for the people to get help when they need it. I will support any measure that reduces the Legislature so long as it does not have a major impact on the people's ability to have access to their legislator when they need help.

You can decide who you want to vote for to represent you in an overly expensive Harrisburg on Tuesday, April 22, 2008. Don't forget to vote.

Visit the PG Voters Guide by clicking here to find the candidates' stances on other issues.