Newspaper details 'Hands out in Harrisburg'

While ordinary Pennsylvanians had to do without services during the state's 101-day-old budget stalemate, elected lawmakers pocketed more than $2.2 million in per diem payments, according to the Reading Eagle.

From a story by reporter Darrin Youker:

During the state's historic 101-day budget impasse that left state employees without paychecks, lawmakers were still getting paid.

While their salaries were frozen during the budget negotiations, many lawmakers were still collecting $158 a day in per diem payments - money to cover food and lodging expenses while in Harrisburg. Some critics contend those payments covered expenses that lawmakers never incurred.

And between Jan. 1 and when the budget was adopted Oct. 5, lawmakers representing Berks County racked up $110,637 in expenses to do business in Harrisburg. Statewide, lawmakers collected more than $2.2 million.

Lawmakers in Harrisburg collect per diems, $158 for each day they spend in the capital. None has to produce receipts for those expenses, and that policy makes the system ripe for fraud, critics say.

On top of their salaries, reimbursement for mileage, car leases and other perks, lawmakers can request per diems for every day they are in Harrisburg.

Some lawmakers don't spend a dime on meals or lodging yet collect per diems anyway, said Tim Potts, a former legislative aide who co-founded Democracy Rising Pennsylvania. In some cases, legislative caucuses, or lobbyists, will pick up the tab for meals during legislative sessions, he said.

"If it's not criminal, it should be," Potts said of lawmakers taking money for expenses they never incurred.

The top three recipients of per diem money from Berks County: Democratic Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone: $23,546; Democratic Rep. Dante Santoni Jr.: $20,632; Republican Rep. Douglas G. Reichley: $13,798.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.