July 7, 2005

Four years ago today, the Pennsylvania Legislature voted itself, the governor and state judges a middle-of-the-night pay raise.

The Legislature has taken hundred of votes since that fateful day, but this is the only one we're still talking about.

The pay raise led to the modern reform movement and launched a thousand bloggers, including this one.

I agree with the assessment below by Lowman S. Henry and I actually said the same thing on my radio show on July 2 when state Rep. Tom Quigley called in to discuss the latest talk in Harrisburg about a potential tax hike to get Gov. Ed Rendell out of the deficit hole he created.

One-third of the Legislature in place during the 2005 pay raise vote is gone, driven into early retirement or tossed from office by voters.

In retrospect, the amount of the pay raise is insignificant compared to the $4.5 billion income tax hike Gov. Ed Rendell is pushing this year.

I told Rep. Quigley to tell his newer colleagues (the ones who replaced the payjackers over the past two election cycles) that if they vote "yes" for any broad-based tax increase, they will be voting to end their political careers.

If the Legislature votes to increase any major tax in 2009, whether it's the income tax or a sales tax, we'll be talking about the vote four years from now.