Freshman Lawmaker Reflects On First Months In Office: Part 2

Editor’s Note: The following is the second and final installment in a two-part series profiling freshman state lawmaker Pam DeLissio.

About a week or so ago, a new sign went up at 6511 Ridge Avenue, the Philadelphia offices of freshman state Rep. Pam DeLissio.

A longtime Roxborough resident, DeLissio, a Democrat, was elected in November to represent the 194th Legislative District, which covers parts of Northwest Philadelphia and parts of Lower Merion Township in neighboring Montgomery County.

The marquis hanging above her Philly office says something about DeLissio, a local lawmaker who plans to integrate social media into her constituent services.

“The thing I’ve been impressed with is the technology infrastructure,” DeLissio, in a recent interview, said about working in Pennsylvania government.

The sign for her new Philly office has not only her name and the business’s address, but also the name of her Facebook page, a Twitter address, an email address and a Web site name.

As a new elected official, DeLissio plans to use these technological advances to her advantage. Not all state representatives are as engaged in the world of social media, she said, especially those older lawmakers who may have been in office for decades, and could be less inclined to embrace such things as Facebook and Twitter.

But for DeLissio, this could be the future of constituent services.

“If we work all three of these tools, we’re going to be in good stead,” she said, referring to Facebook, Twitter and email.

Aside from a push to be more inclusive, DeLissio also has her sights set on fulfilling campaign pledges that came up during her election run.

One of the biggies–government transparency. DeLissio was elected during a tumultuous time for Pennsylvania’s state legislature, when it seemed as though every week new charges were being filed against some lawmaker for one white-collar crime or another.

During her campaign late last year, DeLissio spoke of a need to improve things like ethics regulations and government transparency and accountability.

Already, she’s planning to move forward with her first piece of legislation, an improved “revolving door policy,” what DeLissio said would amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

The idea behind the legislation, DeLissio said, would be to get rid of what she termed “loopholes” in the law that allows state representatives to work for companies or firms that are awarded contracts by the very same reps who may be working for them.

DeLissio said she believes there are currently about 22 or 24 fellow lawmakers in the state House who have signed on as cosponsors to her legislation.

DeLissio said she’s also cosponsored civil union legislation, and plans to move forward on exploring the possibility of privatizing the state’s liquor system, which has been eyed up as of late as a potential source of revenue in difficult economic times for the state.

DeLissio, whose Democratic Party has typically opposed moves to privatize liquor sales in Pennsylvania, stressed that she doesn’t necessarily support privatization, but she does believe it’s a conversation worth having.

During her campaign, she addressed the matter, saying it was at least worth exploring.

During her recent interview at her Roxborough office, DeLissio sounded less enthusiastic about the matter, but still signaled she would support having a discussion about the issue with her fellow lawmakers.

The problem, she said, is it’s been “70 years into this little experiment,” and undoing the State Store system would undoubtedly be difficult.

On general principle, however, DeLissio said, “government shouldn’t be getting into any private sector business.”

On the liquor issue, DeLissio summed it up by offering this:

“Everything’s up for discussion,” she said. “If we can’t, we’re only hurting ourselves.”

As for an overall view of herself, DeLissio said constituents thus far unfamiliar with her name can expect a hardworking, people’s representative who will listen to the issues and vote her conscience.

“I tell people I’m 54 and feisty,” she said with a smile. “Very independent.”