HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Editorial writers and columnists have called it a mugging of state taxpayers, the Great Harrisburg Caper of 2005, an act of legislative thievery. "Greed gone wild," snarled one angry voter.
Public outrage over a hefty pay raise Pennsylvania lawmakers voted themselves a month ago - in the dead of night - has nagged them throughout their summer vacation and shows no signs of going away.
Not only did legislators increase their salaries 16 percent to 34 percent to at least $81,050 - more than any state except California - they crafted the package in secret without debate or public scrutiny, then left town.
Even more galling to Pennsylvanians, lawmakers found a way around a constitutional provision barring them from collecting any salary increase during the term in which it is approved. The pay raise bill - based on the authority of a court ruling nearly two decades old - lets lawmakers start collecting the raises 16 months early.
"I've never seen this kind of anger," said Sen. Patricia Vance, a Republican who received critical e-mails even though she voted against the bill and declined to collect her raise. "I've (been called) a lot of names."
Newspapers across Pennsylvania continue to publish angry editorials and letters from readers. A radio talk-show host is circulating a petition calling for the repeal of the raises, which also apply to judges and certain top executive-branch officials, and is organizing a protest rally for when lawmakers reconvene in late September. Two Web sites have sprung up, urging to voters to overhaul the Legislature or toss out the incumbents....
Since the 2 a.m. vote on July 7, a number of developments have further agitated voters.
In a show of party discipline, the Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled House ousted from committee posts more than a dozen Democrats who voted against the bill. In their place, he put only those who voted for it, entitling them to extra leadership pay.
Pennsylvania's chief justice, Ralph J. Cappy, dismissed as "knee-jerk" the negative reaction to the pay-raise plan, which he helped draw up. Taken to task over his remarks by the Philadelphia Daily News, Cappy allowed that he "probably used inappropriate words."
Read it here.
I've talked with several people here in Pennsylvania and Judge Cappy is wrong -- the disgust and outright hatred expressed goes far, far beyond the normal "knee-jerk" criticism. I would not be surprised if the next election sees a taxpayer revolt throughout the state that has major repercussions. Incumbents of both parties are going to be vulnerable.
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