It looks like they picked a good time to get out of town. Weeks after the monster pay raise, today’s paper is chock full of more system abuse by the elected and their cohorts.
Next we have stories of common folks, like this police officer whose 245 days on the job in exchange for $47,965 looks light when compared with $81,050 for 76 days of “work” by a starting pol. Or the National Guardsman in Iraq drawing $112.50 per week for “hostile fire” pay, compared to $128 a day the boys and girls at the Capitol give themselves for showing the hell up. Or the OR nurse with 37 years experience who collects $61K, again contrasted with the starting take of $81K for the fatcats.
Then we have Pat Carroll’s column which illuminates the masses to a few items in the State Constitution which have been consistently overridden by the State Supreme Court with respect to making the Constitution apply to the Legislative branch.
I can’t speak for the rest of you in PA land, but I’m really getting the shits of this.
I have kept up on my local reps, and will vote accordingly when the time comes. I am also going to be closely watching if the one in my area who said he will be donating all the extra to worthy causes lives up to his vow.
You know, given PA’s rather dire budget situation, and many of the problems the state has, i think there’s a good argument to be made against the recent pay-rise that state legislators voted for themselves.
Unfortunately, when you start such a debate by alleging that politicians don’t work hard, and that they only work on the days during which the legislature is actually sitting, it just looks like you don’t know what you’re talking about.
When you assert that the PA state legislature is filled with politicians who work hard, and who work even on days the legislature is not sitting, it’s clear that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
A few months ago either a Philadelphia Weekly, or City Paper article reported that not only would some politicians not actually come in to vote but have friends do it for them, some of them would simply wedge the yes or no button down with a bit of crumpled paper.
Join the crowd. Down here in Texas, the legislature was called into special session to address property tax and school funding reform. Their sole accomplishment during the special session: awarding themselves a honking 23% increase in their pension fund. Nothing done about property taxes and nothing done about school funding, but they took the opportunity to line their own pockets.
I don’t believe that an allegation of failure to work hard was ever stated. A line from the Patriot News article was paraphrased comparing the number of days per year a law enforcement officer puts in for his pay vs those that the legislature actually reports for work. Without question, there are probably some legislators who do work long and hard, however too many of them are working at lining their pockets at my expense.
If these folks consider themselves full time employees of the Commonwealth, then as the poor SOB who indirectly signs their check, I’d like to know what in the fluorescent pink fuck they’re actually doing that makes them more valuable to me than a cop, a fireman, or a garbage hauler.
Excepting three others (New York, California, and Michigan IIRC) every other state does just fine with a part time legislature, and some of them are paid in a much more realistic manner. The checks and balances have been subverted, and it would seem that their hardest work is at keeping control of the situation out of the hands of the electorate.
According to the chair of the trial judges ethics committee, a common-law doctrine allows judges just rewarded with a raise to rule on a lawsuit seeking to overturn the raises. Yup, no conflict of interest there, no siree. :rolleyes: