07/06/2007

Reformers Commemorate 2005 Payjacking Attempt
By: Jim Panyard, For The Bulletin

Harrisburg - State Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna, may wish he had circumvented yesterday's press conference of state political reformers.
"Hey, Senator Mellow," called Rock the Capitol leader Eric Epstein from the podium in front of the news media and reform supporters gathered in the Capitol Rotunda, as Mellow made his way around the crowd en route to the House side of the building. "How ya doin'? Did you decide to pay back your raise yet?"
"Next week," Mellow retorted, not breaking stride.
"Next week? Great. And we have it on the record, now," Epstein laughed as the scribes and cameramen busily recorded the moment.
Two years ago Friday, at 2 a.m., the General Assembly voted itself a mammoth pay hike ranging from 16 to 54 percent that would have driven lawmaker salaries from just under $69,000 per year to, in many cases, well in excess of $100,000. Add in luxurious perks and pensions and the lawmakers had a taxpayer revolt on their hands. Even when they voted to repeal the measure in November 2005 under the pressure of public rage, it did little to ease the anger of the citizenry. Nor did a later ruling by the state Supreme Court that the raise was illegal - except for the judiciary that also benefited from the gambit, of course.
Mellow accepted, and refuses to repay, roughly $10,000 in "unvouchered expenses" that were equivalent to his pay raise for four months. Many lawmakers did repay or are repaying the amounts they received.
Today, there are 50 new faces in the state House, nearly a quarter of the 203-member body. The now-negated raise inflated the pensions of those who retired or were defeated.
In the state Senate, the Republican president pro tempore and majority leader also saw their long political careers in "safe" seats ended as a result of voter anger.
But, while a lot faces have changed, not much else has taken place.
"It's been 728 days since the pay raise, enough time for a family to have two children. Yet the box score on new laws is: One very poor (lobbying reporting) law enacted to improve integrity in state government and zero 'best in America' laws enacted," said former legislative staffer Timothy Potts, who now heads the reform-minded Democracy Rising.
"That's the bottom line. What have (the lawmakers) actually done, in law, to improve integrity, value, transparency and citizen confidence? And the answer is virtually nothing," Potts said.
Potts went into a litany of abuses the General Assembly continues to condone, such as "lame duck" voting sessions, a $215 million legislative slush fund, taxpayer-funded "public service" advertisements to bolster incumbent campaigns and the legal negation of Philadelphians' rights to hold a referendum on slot casino locations.
Russ Diamond, founder of Pennsylvania Clean Sweep, said it is becoming increasingly obvious that a statewide constitutional convention comprised of citizens is required to reform activities in Harrisburg. Since the pay raise firestorm, Diamond said, any efforts at self-governance by the politicians "has been miniscule and evasive, at best."
Epstein, after his greeting of Mellow, pointed out that taxpayers also pay $79 per month to pipe music into the veteran legislator's Scranton office.
There are six sitting senators and 25 House members (mostly from Philadelphia) who have refused to repay the "unvouchered expenses" they received as part of the pay raise proposal, and five senators who are repaying the money on tax-free loans from the state, Epstein said.
Epstein said reformers have only "a muted victory" thus far and "voters need to stay engaged and turn up the rage."
Matt Brouillette, president of the Commonwealth Foundation, told the audience, "We still have a long way to go. This is not a 100-yard sprint but more of a marathon that may take years and years."
A few of the freshman lawmakers elected via the pay raise rebellion have rejected state cars, pensions and perks. The majority, however, have had no problem availing themselves of those benefits and others.
The state House has reformed several of its operational rules but regularly votes for a "suspension of the rules" when those rules interfere with the legislative game plan.
The reformers reminded their audience that the 2008 primary elections are less than a year away and urged voters to be vigilant come election season.

Jim Panyard can be reached at jpanyard@thebulletin.us.

©The Evening Bulletin 2007