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Some healthy skepticism on Knox’s proposals

Good-government advocates like what Philadelphia businessman Tom Knox has to say about ethics. But they’re not holding their collective breath.

Knox, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor, unveiled a comprehensive package of ethics and government reform proposals late last week, with ideas like reducing the size of the legislature and limiting campaign contributions. And while there was little skepticism for the ideas themselves, their likelihood of actually happening was seen as extremely slim.

“Tom Knox deserves a lot of credit for raising the profile of reform and challenging the status quo,” said Eric Epstein, coordinator of the government-watchdog group RockTheCapital.org.

“However,” Epstein added, “like [Michael] Bloomberg and [Jon] Corzine, Mr. Knox will also find voter disdain for plutocrats. His challenge is to balance a reform platform financed by a personal war chest.”

Tim Potts, co-founder of Democracy Rising PA, said Knox’s proposals are “all good, and we shouldn’t even have to debate them.”

But, he added, “expecting policy decisions with integrity from a legislature that has no integrity is like expecting snowstorms in July. It’s not totally impossible, but no one would bet his or her future on it.”

Perhaps the most cynical outlook came from an article in The Inquirer, which correctly noted that all of Knox’s primary opponents would be barred from running unless they resigned their positions under his proposal.

November 9, 2009 at 3:33 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Tom Knox

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