Pennsylvania will never reduce the size of America's Largest Full-Time State Legislature until the reform movement has a leader, and now there's a Republican in Erie aching to assume that role.

Rick Schenker figures the best place to do that is by snagging the political equivalent of Maytag repairman: the office of lieutenant governor.

Though Schenker, 51, is the former chief executive of Erie County, and as a much younger man directed the Pennsylvania Christian Coalition, I didn't know him from a bucket of rocks until he e-mailed me last week. I'd written a column on the 253-headed monster in Harrisburg that can't get out of its own way to adopt a budget on time.

Mr. Schenker wrote to urge me to keep writing about reducing the size and cost of our General Assembly, saying, "It is the number one issue for me in my campaign."

I've received reams of e-mail over the years supporting the idea of downsizing Harrisburg, but Mr. Schenker was the first who seemed confident he could get under the hood and fix it. So I called and reached him on his cell phone as he walked through Presque Isle State Park, a daily three- or four-mile walk he takes to "reverse" a heart murmur he suffered through a few years ago.

Mr. Schenker is one of many seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor next spring, but he may be the only one who states the truth that this do-little post is essentially "a public relations position."

He sees the sidekick position as a bully pulpit to push a specific reform or three and also to do some inside snooping to see which lawmakers are truly for shrinking the Legislature and who are merely paying the idea lip service to fool the voters back home. When he headed the Pennsylvania Christian Coalition from 1992 through 1996, "I was bamboozled a number of times in Harrisburg, enough to learn how not to be bamboozled.''

He knows how to launch a grass-roots movement. In its heyday, the Pennsylvania Christian Coalition, which no longer exists, boasted 3,000 volunteers, 10,000 donors and a database with 60,000 followers -- and that at a time when recruiting backers via the Internet was impossible.

"In 1992, we only had phones and direct mail," he said. "My idea is to build a grassroots organization on the Internet."

This is not a stalking horse in advance of a second Christian Coalition. "I am who I am and my positions are relatively conservative positions," he said, but his concerns here are the mundane mechanics of government.

"Win or lose the Lt Gov race, my intention is to push for two constitutional amendments in PA," Schenker e-mailed the "Outside Erie" Web site shortly after announcing his candidacy in March. "One [amendment] to have term limits on state legislators and the other to reduce the size and cost of the state legislature."

Our current setup of 253 lawmakers is considerably larger than similar-sized states (177 in Illinois and 132 in Ohio.) The total cost to taxpayers when all staff, offices and benefits are figured works out to more than $1 million per legislator. (I know I've written that before but still find it hard to type.)

Bills have kicked around for years to reduce the size by about 20 percent, taking the House from 203 members to 161 and the Senate from 50 to 40. Schenker doesn't yet have a set number for a new lineup. Nor does he have a firm idea on the maximum number of terms. But he'd like the citizenry to kick the ideas around and then vote on constitutional amendments.

The only way to get to that statewide vote is to have both houses of the Legislature approve the amendment in successive sessions, or to have a constitutional convention.

Mr. Schenker served just one term as Erie County executive, stepping down when his term ended on Jan. 1, 2006. That was partly because of his heart murmur, but he also believes elected officials should serve and then return to the private sector for a spell.

"I believe it helps you see and remember the realities that everyone has to live with and go through," he said. "Sometimes you lose a grip on that reality."

Mr. Schenker's Web site is www.challengecorruption.com and he is the only politician I can remember willing to share his cell phone number, 814-823-1301, with the public. Readers who have long asked who they could see about shrinking the Legislature should check him out.