Inquirer Editorial: Hey, Harrisburg, can you hear them now?

For all the Harrisburg politicians who proclaim they're doing the will of the people, there's a jarring disconnect with key reforms and policies that a majority of Pennsylvanians favor.

The many issues that voters say they want state lawmakers to address, yet which they haven't, include: a crackdown on illegal handgun trafficking, levying a tax on natural-gas drillers, campaign-finance reform, and an end to backdoor tactics in the legislature.

But now a Carlisle-based activist who earned his stripes (and scars) in the legislative pay-hike controversy of a few years ago is trying to connect the dots between state policy and what the opinion polls say.

Former state legislative aide Tim Potts, a cofounder of the grassroots reform group Democracy Rising PA, has launched a political committee that, uniquely, will craft its agenda based solely upon a consensus of current public opinion.

While Potts' fledgling Majority Party PA group will raise campaign funds, it's greater impact could be as a bully pulpit.

Certainly, Potts' hope that elected officials and candidates for office will sign a pledge to abide by the poll-driven agenda may be more an intriguing talking point than anything. (It's also a gig to the national no-new-taxes pledge adopted by conservative Republicans like Gov. Corbett.)

Yet, the initiative could serve as a way to focus Pennsylvania's leaders on key public concerns that, with the state capital overrun by special-interest groups, simply do not get addressed. For one thing, Potts' website - themajoritypartypa.com - will serve as a useful clearinghouse for any issue that is polling over 60 percent in two or more reputable polls.

An inherent problem with Potts' idea is that policymakers could well be whipsawed by conflicting voter sentiments.

Nor should elected officials have to march in lockstep with fickle or misguided majority opinion if, in their best judgment, the state needs to be led in another direction. (A good example would be recent polling that shows overwhelming support for a voter ID law that, clearly, would deny the franchise to many.)

Where Potts is on target, though, is in trying to counter policy-making that consistently ignores reforms that most citizens favor. That's particularly important in a state where no-limits campaign funding enables powerful interests to have so much sway in Harrisburg affairs.

Paying more heed to the majority will could well result in a better-governed state.