Meanwhile Back at the Capitol...Two Years Later

(Harrisburg, Pa.) - Two years after the passage of “unvouchered expenses”, 7 Senators and 25 House members are still profiting from the repealed “pay raise”. Five standing senators enjoy tax-free loans. Numerous former officials have not paid the money back, and enjoy increased pensions pay outs.

Eric Epstein, RockTheCapital.org’s coordinator said, “We have changed the process, made incremental gains, and the shadows and outlines of reform are perceptible. So far we have achieved a muted victory, and run into a system with a pathological aversion to change. We cannot take one step backwards. Voters need to stay engaged, and turn up the rage.”

Epstein stated, “Two years later politicians are still running-up a tab. We are encouraging voters to monitor the ‘back-end’ of the ‘pay back’ process. ‘Unvouchered expenses’ by definition are unmonitored, work-related expenses. The public has a right to know where the money went, and who is coming clean with taxpayers.”

Epstein added, “There are politicians who will not give back the blood they sucked out of the people’s bank. What message does it send to the rank and file when they are led by accomplished bank robbers?”

Epstein added, “The Governor does not understand that Pennsylvanians want reform without the varnish. The Governor needs to slow down, take Pennsylvania's political pulse, and smell the winds of change.”

• Governor Ed Rendell (D) declared, “It's legal [“unvouchered expenses”] and that's all I'm going to say about it.” On July 8, 2005, while signing the bill, the Governor said lawmakers "have a reasonable right to expect periodic raises, which they deserve."

• Chief Justice Cappy stated, "I have enormous respect for the legislators who stood up and voted for this. I know how hard these pay-raise votes are. It demonstrated for me enormous courage and significant fortitude. They have grown in stature in my eyes by leaps and bounds during the course of this whole experience.

• Justice Ronald D. Castille, author of the September 14, 2006, opinion declared: "We note that this Court did not draft or play any role in the enactment of the legislation that became (the pay raise). That legislation, passed by the General Assembly and duly signed by the governor, set the compensation judges were to receive, only to have the compensation unconstitutionally reduced" by last November's repeal vote.

• Rep. Phyllis Mundy (D-Kingston) said, “At the time the vote was cast there had been three court decisions upholding the constitutionality of ‘unvouchered expenses.’ There was nothing unconstitutional about what we did. Now the Supreme Court is reversing itself. That does not mean at the time the vote was cast it was improper.” (Times-Leader, September 16, 2006)

• Speaker emeritus John Perzel (R-Philadelphia) stated, "The people who are milking the cows in Lancaster County are making between $50,000 to $55,000 a year.”

• Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow (D-Luzerne) to taxpayer William McIntyre, “Get a life.”

• Rep. Frank Oliver (D-Philadelphia) “If that pay-raise issue came up tomorrow, I would support it,’ he said. ‘I know I deserve it. Most members deserve it. We're underpaid as it is.”