With the General Assembly on the verge of finally passing a lobbyist disclosure law, greater public attention should focus on the role played by lobbyists in state government.

In recent years, it's becoming increasingly clear that lobbyists are a sort of shadow government — unknown to the public, yet operating hand-in-hand with elected officials in state capitals — and Washington, D.C. — to make laws. And the laws they are instrumental in passing (or changing)are laws that benefit their clients, not the public.

A Pittsburgh newspaper reported last week that one top Harrisburg lobbyist, who represents several national gambling interests, wants casinos that operate in Pennsylvania to be able to serve liquor 24 hours a day. That's the way casinos operate elsewhere, but not the timetable for serving liquor in Pennsylvania.

Clearly, bars and restaurants that operate anywhere near casinos would be at a disadvantage under the drinks-flowing-round-the-clock scenario.

The news article explained that lobbyist Richard Gmerek has sent lawmakers and the governor's office a proposal to create a new, separate class of liquor license that would allow booze to flow nonstop, day and night, at casinos operating in the state. Casinos know from experience that people gamble more money — and lose money — when they are loosened up with liquor.

Gmerek's amendment could be attached to a piece of legislation that would place limits on direct shipment of wine and liquor to private homes.

It's already evident that casinos planning to operate in Pennsylvania want to do things their own way, without being constrained by any local laws. Evidence of this can be seen in lawmakers' proposals to exempt casinos from any municipal smoking bans, such as those recently passed in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Gambling interests also have pressured their friends in the General Assembly to make sure that casinos can ignore local zoning laws

Gmerek's involvement in this is made all the more interesting because he is not the only gambling lobbyist working in Harrisburg, but he does seem to have extraordinary access to top government officials. Gmerek is not only a top gambling lobbyist, he also is a close associate of Gov. Ed Rendell's chief of staff, John Estey.

Gmerek was in the news earlier this month when it was learned that he joined Estey on the state plane for a flight to Pittsburgh. Of course, Rendell's office says that gambling issues were not discussed during the flight on the state plane, for which Gmerek reportedly reimbursed the state.

Gmerek and Rendell's top aide, Estey, have a history together. It was Estey, an attorney, who represented Gmerek in a case before the state Supreme Court that resulted in the state's lobbyist-reporting law being declared unconstitutional in 2001.

Through Gmerek's efforts, the state's 1998 lobbyist-reporting law was scrapped — and has yet to be replaced.

It seems that neither lobbyists nor their friends in the state legislature want the public to know which lawmakers are schmoozing with which lobbyists — or how much money is being spent to create, destroy or modify legislation.

This lack of interest in revealing lobbyist activities and spending on the part of state lawmakers, particularly the leadership in both parties, has left Pennsylvania with the dubious distinction of being the only state with no mandatory lobbyist-reporting/regulation law.

Lobbyists with close connections to lawmakers and open-ended expense accounts operate in other state capitals and in Washington, D.C. But in Pennsylvania, citizens can only guess what they are up to.

Now it's learned that the same lobbyist who helped strip the state of any mandatory lobbyist reporting is flying on the state plane with the governor's closest aide and proposing that casinos be given special privileges that are denied to bars and restaurants, so that the liquor never stops flowing to the people playing the slot machines.

The story of legalized gambling continues to provide eye-opening — and discouraging — revelations about the state of state government in Pennsylvania. But nobody with any power to make changes seems to care. The lobbyists and their friends in the General Assembly seem to think everything is fine, just the way it is.

Clearly, real reform in Harrisburg will take a Nov. 7 defeat of more incumbents — especially those in leadership.