by Frank Kirkwood<\/p>\n
Well, I\u2019ve been away from the blog for quite a while.\u00a0 But I have a good excuse, I have been organizing and agitating with March on Harrisburg.\u00a0 We have been marching on Harrisburg (literally, not just metaphorically), visiting almost all our legislators, engaging in non-violent direct actions, and marching, once from Philadelphia to Harrisburg and then from Lancaster to Harrisburg.<\/p>\n
We are asking the legislature to pass a Pennsylvania constitutional amendment to take re-districting out of the hands of self-serving legislative leaders and put it in the hands of a citizens commission.\u00a0 We are also agitating to get them to pass a ban on gifts to legislators.\u00a0 Right now, lobbyists can give meals, drinks, nights on the town, event tickets, even vacations to your<\/i>\u00a0representative – all perfectly legal and much of it never has to be reported.<\/p>\n
Gifts are a way of life in the legislature, it is the way business is done.\u00a0 It is really just another form of the payments by lobbyists to the campaign committees of legislative candidates.\u00a0 All perfectly legal and all perfectly corrupting! \u00a0 So, we are starting with the gift ban.<\/p>\n