Members of the State Legislature are set to see their base salary bumped up to $76,163, an increase of $2549 or 3.5 percent.
Yep you read that right, after all of the hubbub over the pay raise just 2 short years ago, the legislature will once again receive their annual cost of living adjustment. They got it last year and they’ll continue to get it each and every year based on a 1995 law.
At the time, then Speaker of the House John Perzel was famously quoted as saying “We’ll never have to do this again.” This being, vote to raise their own pay! We now know “never” lasted ten years!
The ’95 law clearly flies in the face of the Pennsylvania Constitution which states, “No member of either House (of the General Assembly) shall during the term for which he may have been elected, receive any increase of salary or mileage under any law passed during such term.”
Acting outside the scope of the state constitution is not a rarity for the Harrisburg equivalent of the Soprano Family.
Now some lawmakers are questioning whether they should take the pay bump, especially if they were part of the backlash of newly elected legislators in the wake of the pay raise mess.
That has me wondering what local Freshman legislators like Pat Harkins, John Hornaman, and Brad Roae will do. All three were elected in large part because of the pay raise backlash.
How about veteran legislator John Evans, who claimed to have found god with regard to pay raises, will he take the bump?
These guys in one way or another made their way to, or back to Harrisburg by claiming to do the right thing for the taxpayers, was it lip service or did they really mean what they said? I’m asking…maybe you should ask too.
Monday, December 3, 2007
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3 comments:
While I was totally against the pay raises the lawmakers voted for under the cover of darkness and against the wishes of their constituents, I'm not sure I have a problem with this. They had a 2% COL increase last year. This year, though 3.5% seems like a lot, it is right in line with the increase in inflation (3.5% higher than a year ago). I think a COL adjustment is different than a payraise.
I don't completely disagree with your COLA comment...accept for the constituional question. The COLA the Harrisburg types award themselves is based on the Philadelphia economic formula, which naturally has a higher cost of living so it leads to a higher COLA.
Yes, I read that information, too. But the 3.5% increase that I mentioned is for the US, it's not specific to PA.
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