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It is time for PA. Legislature to Enact Basic Limits on Gifts to Politicians
http://watchdog.org/120812/gift-laws-pennsylvania/http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/05/reformers_call_for_stricter_pa.html
With the corruption conviction of Va. Gov. McDonnell, it is time for Pa. to revisit placing limits on gifts to elected officials.
Currently, there is no monetary limit on the value of gifts to the Governor or legislators, as long as the gift is publicly listed once a year, and as long as the politician is not taped saying "Yes, sir, I will now appoint your marginally qualified son as Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection in return for your large gift."
PA. is one of a very few states that has no monetary limit on the value of gifts. Politicians are regularly handed free tickets and flown on private jets to the Super Bowl, for example.
When a few Philadelphia legislators were caught on tape accepting large envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars of cash from a lobbyist, it was not illegal. Their main offense (a minor misdemeanor) was not reporting the gifts in an annual disclosure form. Corbett has been caught "forgetting" to disclose large gifts, and no punishment has resulted.
