judgesonmerit.org

Jeanette Krebs, editorial page editor of the Harrisburg Patriot-News, counts Merit Selection as a reform Pennsylvania needs.  In Sunday’s editorial, Krebs calls for a new constitutional convention, echoing former Governor Raymond Shafer’s words when he opened the last such convention in 1967:

“Today we meet with history. We meet in a time that demands heroic efforts if we are to conquer the complex challenges that lie before us and our children.”

Krebs offers a list of some key issues related to our system of governance that should be addressed:

[A]bolishing the lame duck session when lawmakers vote on bills after an election, and in some cases, right before they leave office. There is merit selection of judges, giving the state auditor general the ability to examine legislative finances, true campaign finance reform, tax reform, biennial budgeting.

She wisely notes that “In looking at these issues it is clear that past efforts are not adequate to meet present and future needs.”

PMC and PMCAction have not taken a position on whether Pennsylvania should hold a new constitutional convention, but we are certainly glad to see Merit Selection on a list of major reform issues the people of Pennsylvania need to address.

Senator Jeffrey E. Piccola (R. Dauphin and York) has been advocating for Pennsylvania to hold a constitutional convention — the first such convention in forty years. In a commentary piece on the Commonwealth Foundation’s website, Senator Piccola explains why he believes a constitutional convention would be useful:

Historically, a constitutional convention has not been the appropriate forum to tackle controversial social issues. There are, however, important policies and processes spelled out in the constitution that the legislative, executive, and judicial branches follow which a convention could change. Those reforms could range from changing the size of the General Assembly to term limits, or from instituting merit selection of our judges to setting compensation requirements for public officials.

Although PMC and PMCAction have not taken a position on whether Pennsylvania should have a new constitutional convention, we’re glad to see Merit Selection coming up on lists of necessary reforms for Pennsylvania.