Today, my reform campaign ran the second of a series of full page ads in the Daily News where I poked fun at State Senator Vince Fumo's alleged misuse of taxpayer and charity money for personal and political purposes. (The Daily News is 60 cents - go buy a copy. They have a nice comics section.)

Though the fraud and corruption detailed in the Fumo indictment are dramatic and infuriating, the issues in Harrisburg are much larger than Fumo himself. The problem is that our legislature is broken, unwilling to operate in the light of day, and unable to reform itself.

For too long, Pennsylvania government has been corrupt and content, and the voters have grown frustrated. When the General Assembly gave itself an illegal pay raise in a late night vote on fourth of July weekend in 2006, voters of all political stripes joined together in a populist revolt and threw out dozens of lawmakers from around the state.

On Saturday, Pennsylvania's elected officials will receive their annual cost of living adjustment (COLA), and many lawmakers will be receiving substantial raises to keep their salaries in line with inflation. The base salary of a legislator in the General Assembly will increase approximately $2,550 to $76,163 and Governor Rendell will receive pay bump of nearly $6,000 and will collect $170,150 in 2008.

This annual cost of living increase was signed into law in 1995 and kicks in every year. The U.S. Congress passed a similar law in 1989 that automatically raises their salaries each year to account for inflation and rise in the cost of living, unless they vote otherwise. Unsurprisingly, Congress has only twice neglected to give itself a pay raise since then.