Mobilization to Pass Gift Ban Sends Legislators Into Panic On First Day Back in Session
Photo credit: Marley Parish
After marching 33 miles from York to Harrisburg, we spent the morning of Monday, September 12th, in the Capitol as legislators came back into session. We swarmed the hallways to demand that our corrupt legislators vote on the Gift Ban.
The plan was set: our anonymous legislator was prepared to motion the bill , HB 1009, forward for the first time ever.
Our chants echoed throughout their chambers. They knew we were there. And they were scared. Before session started, both parties scrambled to hold last-second meetings on the Gift Ban where party leadership fought against our effort to pass the bill.
But instead of having the courage and the moral insight needed to allow the bill to be brought to a vote and actually pass a policy Pennsylvanians need and want, our legislators abruptly ended session after only an HOUR total of meeting (It was their FIRST day back from summer recess!). And they were too cowardly to leave the House floor via the front door and face us. ALL of the legislators present used a back exit to hide from us and avoid being publicly held accountable for putting bribes before the people of Pennsylvania.
“ “They don’t want to talk about this. They don’t want to deal with this. They don’t want to make corruption illegal because if they do, it breaks the whole system, and they know it.””
“We keep marching on Harrisburg to make corruption illegal, and our politicians, our supposed public servants, keep hiding from us,” said Rabbi Michale Pollack, our Executive Director, standing in the Capitol rotunda in front of our large banners reading “We Don’t Trust You, Pass the Gift Ban,” and “Will PA End Bribery Today? #AllEyesOnPA”. “They don’t want to talk about this. They don’t want to deal with this. They don’t want to make corruption illegal because if they do, it breaks the whole system, and they know it.”
The legislature’s duplicity and failure to act in the interest of all Pennsylvanians is endemic to our political system.
“The business of this building is not the business of the people,” said Pollack. “It’s the business of the special interests. It’s the business of the big-money donors. It’s the business of people who have so much money they don’t know what to do with it but they’re so blinded by their own greed that they keep coming back for more. More. More. And that means less for everyone else. That means shoddy healthcare, that means pensions that disappear, that means terrible bus schedules, that means underfunding schools, that means ecological devastation that causes cancer clusters across the state that’s killing us.”
Not surprisingly, legislators gave every excuse they could think of for not doing their job and passing the Gift Ban. Here are some of the reasons they gave for killing a bill that would have prevented $7 million dollars of bribes flowing into our legislature from special interests since we first began asking for a Gift Ban in 2017.
EXCUSE 1: Both parties say voters don’t care about getting money out of politics.
Then why is Governor Wolf calling on the legislature to vote on a Gift Ban? Why does almost every US state have one? We use gift bans to hold doctors and gov employees accountable. Why not our elected officials?
And, we can’t believe we have to even counter this but… do politicians really think voters don’t want to get money out of politics? Hello?! Have they been asleep for the past 6 years?
Also, that’s a very bold statement to make just months after this breaking report unveiled the millions that PA politicians are pocketing LEGALLY in dark money every year.
EXCUSE 2: PA legislators need their dinners paid by lobbyists to do their job.According to Philly State @RepHarris, “There's a tension at the meeting table that doesn’t happen at the dinner table, and it’s because of that that people are actually able to get things done.”
So he needs bribes to do his job? Has he ever heard of… splitting the check? Plenty of us don’t get paid dinners at our jobs - and we’re perfectly capable of getting things done.
EXCUSE 3: Legislators were simply “unfamiliar” with the specifics of our proposal.The reality is they were fully informed that we were forcing a floor vote on the Gift ban for the first time ever!
We have met with our legislators about the Gift Ban for YEARS. We’ve called them, sent them letters, faxes… even symbolic toy bricks that we were arrested for trying to deliver!
They COULDN’T miss what we were doing on the 12th. Or the news coverage our efforts received statewide, the investigative report uncovering millions in dark money from @SpotlightPA, or our TikToks gaining attention around the world about Pennsylvania's (lack-of) gift ban.
And, it sounds like their unfamiliarity was self-inflicted: A Democrat admitted (anonymously, of course) that they “never looked too closely” at the bill “because it’s not going anywhere.” Admitting unwillingness to play an active role in ending their own corruption.
EXCUSE 4: Our protests are why the legislature won’t vote on the Gift Ban.33 bills have been introduced in the past 20 years - most of which came before we ever took action. Why didn’t they pass it before we came along? When @CommonCausePA and @LWVPA asked “nicely”?
Or when @GovernorWolf enacted a gift ban on his own office in 2015 and asked legislators to do the same? When we began in 2017 we did ask nicely. We met with nearly EVERY SINGLE LEGISLATOR… until a gatekeeper told us he would never move the Gift Ban, so we took action.
Subsequently, our direct actions did, in fact, get the goods. The Gift Ban passed out of committee in Nov 2019 and in Oct 2021 only because of our advocacy and the pressure applied through our tactics.
EXCUSE 5: The Gift Ban bill itself is problematicHouse Dem spokesperson Nicole Reigelman said that the bill written is “unconstitutionally vague.” What does this mean? No one seems to know…
And if it was so problematic, why did It pass unanimously through the House State Gov Committee - TWICE? Plus - why not fight for amendments to clarify the language & make the bill as strong as possible… instead of going another session without voting.
Let’s be clear - their excuses are all bullshit. They know it. We know it. We won't let these petty stalling tricks phase us. Our tactics are working. On September 12th we made them panic, and we will continue to maneuver the Gift Ban forward.
Come together to pass this anti-corruption legislation that we all want!
Call & Tweet the following representatives’ offices and DEMAND the #giftban be voted on before the end of the current session:
House GOP Leader Rep Benninghoff: @RepBenninghoff - 717-783-1918
House Speaker Bryan Cutler: @RepBryanCutler - 717-783-6424
House Dem Leader Joanna McClinton: @RepMcClinton - 717-772-9850
House Dem Whip Rep Harris: @RepHarris - 717-783-1792
