If you’ve ever watched a crime show on TV or read a mystery novel, you know that the criminal eventually returns to the scene of the crime. And so it is with the Pennsylvania legislature. After a refreshing 10-week vacation where the 253 co-conspirators had ample opportunity to figure out how to spend the $11,000 to $32,000 in pay raises they gave themselves, it’s back to the grind of three-day work weeks.
On Monday, both chambers of the Pennsylvania House of Lords will be in session for the first time since the middle-of-the-night pay grab on July 7. The Senate, where some members will get 54 percent pay raises while others collect up to $100,000 in additional income over the next four years, despite a Constitutional prohibition against collecting pay raises during their current terms, returned to Harrisburg on Sept. 19.
The House, where 14 yes-men were rewarded with committee chairmanships and $5,000 in additional pay by Democratic Party boss Bill DeWeese for stabbing their fellow Democrats in the back, will sneak into town Monday morning.
I say sneak because it’s going to be hard to avoid thousands of angry taxpayers who will descend on the state Capitol Monday. But I’m sure the House and Senate have private entrances to state garages where they can park their taxpayer-supplied luxury cars for free. Maybe they even have aides who will whisk them away in golf carts to their offices.
When you have 3,000 people on the payroll at the state Capitol, I’m sure there’s some job descriptions that include opening doors, fetching drinks and bowing before the members of the House of Lords during the 77 days of they year they’re in session in Harrisburg.
The July 7 slap in the face of taxpayers was supposed to keep us down. But something wonderful has been happening in Pennsylvania over the past two months. People are standing up to the overpaid, underachieving career politicians who populate the halls of the state Capitol. So far, 26 legislators who voted for the pay raise have backed down under pressure from constituents, who have flooded politicians with letters, phone calls and e-mails. But 132 others are taking the money. They need to be voted out.
The first order of business for the House of Lords should be to repeal the pay raise. Pennsylvania residents are suffering while career politicians are lining their own pockets. House Bill 1945 would repeal the pay raises. It has 40 sponsors so far. Is your state representative one of them?
The second item on the agenda should be to eliminate the unscrupulous practice of "unvouchered expenses" that allowed so many lawmakers to circumvent the state Constitution and accept the pay raises before the law allows.
Third on the list should be a written apology to every Pennsylvania resident, not only for the pay grab, but the complete failure of the legislature to address any of the state’s most pressing needs.
Gov. Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ralph Cappy and House Speaker John Perzel — the three-headed monster responsible for hatching up the pay raise plot — are living on another planet if they believe legislators deserve a pay raise. Pennsylvania already has the most expense state legislature in the country, but where are the results?
A study by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that only 19 percent of the bills introduced in the Pennsylvania legislature are ever signed into law. Twenty-eight states did better. California legislators, the only ones being paid more than our own Pennsylvania slackers, have a 60 percent success rate. The question one needs to ask about the pitiful success rate of people who are elected to enact legislation is this: Why are Pennsylvania lawmakers wasting their time introducing eight out of 10 bills that will never see the light of day?
Is the legislation bad to begin with or is the Pennsylvania legislature so large — so unwieldy — that nothing can ever get done? Why does Pennsylvania have the largest legislature in the country when states like California, New York and Texas can get more done with fewer people? Why are Pennsylvania taxpayers supporting this aristocracy that is not accountable to the people who elected them?
Once the pay raise issue is behind us, the legislature must enact property tax relief for the state’s homeowners. Rendell tried a public relations stunt by calling for a special session of the legislature to deal with property taxes, but it’s just another of Fast Eddie’s parlor tricks. I say the citizens of Pennsylvania should surround the state Capitol and not allow the 253 Lords out until they approve a tax reform plan that works. It may mean they have to put in more than 77 days at work this year.
E-mail Tony Phyrillas at tphyrillas@pottsmerc.com
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