Four years ago today, the Pennsylvania Legislature voted itself, the governor and state judges a middle-of-the-night pay raise.

The Legislature has taken hundred of votes since that fateful day, but this is the only one we're still talking about.

The pay raise led to the modern reform movement and launched a thousand bloggers, including this one.

I agree with the assessment below by Lowman S. Henry and I actually said the same thing on my radio show on July 2 when state Rep. Tom Quigley called in to discuss the latest talk in Harrisburg about a potential tax hike to get Gov. Ed Rendell out of the deficit hole he created.

One-third of the Legislature in place during the 2005 pay raise vote is gone, driven into early retirement or tossed from office by voters.

In retrospect, the amount of the pay raise is insignificant compared to the $4.5 billion income tax hike Gov. Ed Rendell is pushing this year.

I told Rep. Quigley to tell his newer colleagues (the ones who replaced the payjackers over the past two election cycles) that if they vote "yes" for any broad-based tax increase, they will be voting to end their political careers.

If the Legislature votes to increase any major tax in 2009, whether it's the income tax or a sales tax, we'll be talking about the vote four years from now.

While 9 out of 10 Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, that won't stop members of Congress from collecting another pay raise starting Jan. 1.

Congress automatically gets a pay raise every year unless its members vote to reject it. That hasn't happened yet.

As of Jan. 1, the starting salary of a member of Congress reaches $174,000, which is higher than 94 percent of American households.

Members of Congress Due to Award Themselves $4,700 Raise in 2009

For the past two Sundays, Eric Heyl, a columnist for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, has been urging readers of the newspaper to clip a coupon at the end of his column and send it off to Harrisburg.

Heyl wants members of the Pennsylvania Legislature, among the highest paid in the nation, to take a 5 percent pay cut in light of the state's massive budget deficit, which is projected at $1.6 billion to $2 billion. (Nearly every member of the Legislature voted in favor of Gov. Ed Rendell's $28.3 billion budget despite warnings that it would bleed red ink before the fiscal year is out.)

While some lawmakers have volunteered to give back the 2.8 percent cost-of-living pay rise that kicked in Dec. 1, Heyl said they need to go further and take a salary cut.

The coupon reads as follows:

YES! I want more than political posturing from my elected state officials.

Quit patting yourselves on the back for not accepting your COLA and show people you're really willing to sacrifice. Take a 5 percent pay cut like your brethren lawmakers in Florida.

Then roll up your sleeves, get to work, and save the people you work for -- that would include me -- some real money.

Do I have your pledge that you will start by cutting some of the $300 million budgeted this year just to operate the state House and Senate?

I expect a response at your earliest convenience.

Heyl got the idea for the pay cut request after a reader informed him that Florida state legislators volunteered to reduce their salaries.

Florida legislators earn about $31,000 annually, Heyl writes. The base salary for Pennsylvania lawmakers is $78,315 if they accept the COLA, $76,313 if they decline it, Heyl says.Read Hey's initial column, "Send this coupon to your legislator," here.

Read Heyl's follow-up column, "Not too late to send this coupon to legislators," here.

State Rep. David Argall was a leader of the House Republican Caucus when then-Speaker John Perzel pushed for the infamous middle-of-the-night pay raise in July 2005. Argall dutifully followed along and voted for the pay raise and also took the money as unvouchered expenses. Thanks mostly to pressure by reform groups, newspaper editorialists and bloggers, the pay raise was repealed. After the repeal vote, many lawmakers paid back the money. But not Argall.

Now Republican Argall wants to move to the state Senate, where the 29th District seat held by the late Jim Rhoades is vacant. Argall is the front-runner in the race, but before Argall moves to the Senate, a group of reformers want him to pay back the pay raise money and "per diem" money that Argall may or may not have been entitled to.

Below is a letter sent by five prominent citizen reformers.

Dear Rep. Argall,

It has been widely reported that you are seeking to the fill the late Sen. Jim Rhoades' vacant seat.

Before pursuing your newest political endeavor, however, we implore you to repay to the taxpayers the tens of thousands of dollars you owe them for: 1) tax-free, supplemental "per diem" money you've collected in excess of your actual expenses for food and lodging; and 2) the money you collected from the repealed pay raise of 2005.

With regard to the per diem money: a thorough review of official records from the House Chief Clerk's office indicates that, from 2005 to 2007 alone, you collected more than $48,000 in per diem money for food and lodging expenses that were incurred on approximately 420 separate business days in Harrisburg. That averages out to a per diem payment to you of $115 per day. This money of course was collected above and beyond your base salary of more than $100,000, and in addition to the money you collected for transportation expenses.

As you know, you and your fellow legislators have made it such that you don't even have to provide receipts for, or documentation of, your actual expenses for food and lodging. Therefore, it is difficult to calculate precisely how much tax-free, supplemental per diem money you collected above and beyond those expenses.

This much we know, however: in 2007, the average resident in Schuylkill County was living on $41.93 per day, and the average resident in Berks County on $49.43 per day – for housing costs, health care, food, transportation, utilities, etc. (United States Census Bureau). On average, you collected $113 a day in tax-free, supplemental income, - just for food and lodging – which is more than double what your constituents had to live on for all the costs of life.

We also know that it is only 78 miles from your Lake Hautto home to the Capitol (a drive of 1 hour and 28 minutes), which means you are often able to drive home from the Capitol after a session day or nonvoting business day, and not need taxpayer-funded lodging.

Further, we know that oftentimes during session days, representatives are usually provided with catered meals out of leadership accounts, or lobbyists simply pick up the tab – further driving down your actual expenses for which you collected per diem money.

Concluding our first item on per diems: given that your average per diem check for food and lodging expenses in 2007 ($113) was more than double what your constituents had to live on for all the expenses of life that year ($45, when averaging between Schuylkill and Berks counties' residents), and multiplying the differential ($68) by the number of days for which you collected a per diem in 2007 (149), we believe you overcharged the taxpayers by $10,000 (rounding down), just for calendar year 2007. We believe this figure to be a conservative estimate given that it does not factor in the abovementioned free meals provided to you from leadership accounts and lobbyists. Furthermore, if we were to multiply your years in the House (24) by the excess per diem money collected for each year, we'd likely compute an amount well over $100,000 in tax-free, supplemental income owed to the taxpayers (after adjusting for inflation). Again, this is a very conservative estimate.

Regarding the second item mentioned above – the 2005 pay raise money: according to news reports in the Morning Call, you collected $7,000 in so-called "unvouchered expense" money from a 2005 pay raise that was not only repealed, but ruled unconstitutional. Many legislators never collected a penny of this illicit raise. Of those that did collect, the overwhelming majority paid the money back, either upon its repeal, or upon its being ruled unconstitutional. Indeed, the man who once walked in the very large shoes you aspire to fill – Sen. James Rhoades – did the honorable thing and paid back every single cent.

You've stubbornly refused paying back the pay raise money, citing the fact that you gave it to charity, which in your belief should excuse you from reimbursing the taxpayers. We would remind you that in American jurisprudence, giving ill-gotten gains to charity is never an acceptable defense. To say it in other words, someone who robs a bank could never tell the judge he gave the money to charity, and expect to get off the hook.

Our first appeal is to your sense of integrity: Giving back the rather large sum of money you owe the taxpayers is simply the right thing to do.

Our second appeal is to your sense for fiscal need: the Commonwealth is presently staring at a budget deficit that experts predict will reach anywhere from $1 billion to $2 billion. We are likely facing a combination of tax increases and painful cuts in vital state services and programs. What a shame it would be, for instance, if we had to cut $100,000 for library services, when you alone owe the taxpayers at least that much in excess per diem money and unconstitutional, unvouchered expenses. Combined with like amounts owed by your colleagues, the figure grows exponentially.

Failing our first two appeals, our final appeal is to the political sense for which you are famous. It would simply be political suicide to seek an open state Senate seat when you owe a very large sum of money to the taxpayers for unvouchered expenses and excess, tax-free per diem money. This is akin to expecting to be granted approval for a mortgage with deficiencies in your credit history, something your constituents are painfully aware of during these rough economic times.

We look forward to receiving word from you in the very near future that you have decided to do right by the taxpayers you seek to represent in Senate by paying back your unvouchered expenses and excess, tax-free per diem money.

Sincerely,
Eric Epstein
Rock the Capital
Gene Stilp
Taxpayers & Ratepayers United
Russ Diamond
PA Clean Sweep
Tim Potts
Democracy Rising
Dennis Baylor
PA Accountability Project

It's the season of giving as more Pennsylvania politicians decide to give back the Dec. 1 pay raise they received.

Auditor General Jack Wagner is also urging the Legislature to impose a two-year moratorium on cost-of-living increases.

Why stop at two years? How about a permanent ban on COLAs for "public servants"?

Here's the press release from Wagner's office:

HARRISBURG -- Saying it was a responsibility of the state's independent fiscal watchdog to speak out on important issues regarding the state budget, Auditor General Jack Wagner today called on the General Assembly to impose a 2-year moratorium on cost-of-living pay increases for state officials to help shrink Pennsylvania's widening budget deficit.

"I believe it's the fiscally prudent thing to do in these very difficult financial times," Wagner said.

Wagner said he would ask the General Assembly to make a two-year COLA freeze its first act of business when it returns to session in January. Employees of the legislative, judicial and executive branches received a 2.8 percent cost-of-living raise on Monday. Pennsylvania is facing a budget deficit of up to $2 billion for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Regardless of the General Assembly's decision, Wagner said, he would give back his 2.8 percent raise by either writing a check to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or donating the money to a social services agency that is dependent on state funds.

The spirit of the holiday season has touched a couple members of the Pennsylvania Legislature who have told a newspaper they will donate their Dec. 1 pay raise to charity.

Bless their hearts.

According to reporter Vicky Thomas, at least two members of the Delaware County legislative delegation will give their $2,152 increases to charity.

From Thomas' story:

Nick Miccarelli of Ridley Park, Republican representative-elect for the 162nd District, told the newspaper he plans to give his bonus to local organizations since refusing the increase is not an option.

Miccarelli said he hasn't decided which charities will get the donation, but plans to direct the money to food banks in his district.

"It's so bad out there right now. Everyone is hurting ... it's time for legislators to say, hey, we're in this fight with you and we’re going to cut the fat," he said.

State Rep. Bryan Lentz, D-161, of Swarthmore, said he plans to donate his increase to the Salvation Army/Daily Times Merry Christmas Fund, which he also did with his 2006 increase.

"It's a difficult time for everybody. This helps people down on their luck and shows effort on my part as a public official to do my part in belt-tightening," Lentz said.

Delaware County has four state Senators and 11 state Representatives. I know the newspaper couldn't reach all 15 lawmakers, but I'm wondering how many of them (besides Miccarelli and Lentz) are planning to give the raises to charity or pocket the $2,152.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

Citizen activist Bill McIntyre quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story about efforts to repeal the annual COLA pay raise for Pennsylvania lawmakers:

"This Capitol is one of the most expensive places in Pennsylvania," Mr. McIntyre complained. "It really gets my ire up. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus -- if you're in the Pennsylvania state Legislature."

Reporter Tom Barnes says McIntyre has joined a small group of fellow fed-up Pennsylvania taxpayers (Gene Stilp of Taxpayers and Ratepayers United, Dick Schirato of Pennsylvania Citizens for Legislator Accountability and Dennis Baylor of the Pennsylvania Accountability Project) to support a bill by state Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith, D-Chester County, to repeal the annual pay raise.

Since 1995, Pennsylvania legislators, the governor and his cabinet, and judges have received an annual pay raise on Dec. 1.

With so many Pennsylvania residents losing their jobs and homeowners struggling to pay their property taxes, it's unseemly for some of the highest paid "public servants" in the country to receive automatic pay raises every year.

From Barnes' story:

Ms. McIlvaine Smith, who will start her second term in January, unveiled her anti-COLA bill last week. It's inappropriate for officeholders and others to take raises, she said, because the state faces a 2008-09 revenue shortfall that could reach $2 billion.

"Our constituents are losing their jobs and everyone is struggling to pay their bills," she said. "Thousands will not see their salaries or wages increased in the coming year, so why should we?"

The 2.8 percent salary increase for legislators will hike rank-and-file pay to $78,315, with top leaders as high as $122,000.

Read more about the effort to repeal the COLA program at the newspaper's Web site.

A citizens' group that led the fight to repeal the 2005 legislative pay raise is demanding Pennsylvania officials suspend their annual COLA increase.

RockTheCapital.org says the 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for legislators, members of the Rendell administration and judges is a "stealth" pay raise.

The base salary of a Pennsylvania lawmaker goes up to $78,315 on Dec. 1. Legislative leaders earn more. For example, the Senate Pro Tempore would earn $118,095 after the COLA kicks in.

From Eric Epstein, coordinator of RockTheCapital.org:

"At a time when working class families are getting clobbered, the political class is making plans to jet to New York City and whine and dine in the lap of luxury. Those in the 'no whine zone' are prospering. Speaker McCall will be making $122,000, and Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille will be hauling in $192,000. Rank-and-file lawmakers will have to get by on $78,300 with per diems, a state car, and full benefits."

Epstein said the Dec. 1 pay raise is particularly galling because Pennsylvania elected officials have done such a poor job of managing state revenues.

"No one should be rewarded for creating a $500 million deficit," Epstein said. "Taking a COLA this year is like stealing your children's savings' bonds."

RockTheCapital.org, one of several citizen reform groups that fought to repeal the 2005 middle-of-the-night pay raise, believes that a nonpartisan and independent compensation commission should determine future pay adjustments for elected and appointed officials.

"State government is a publicly held corporation with by-laws that specifically exclude COLAS (Article III, Section VIII)," Epstein said. "If lawmakers want a bonus plan then they need to submit a proposal to taxpayers for ratification."

For more on the group's reform agenda, visit RockTheCapital.org

Gov. Ed Rendell and the Pennsylvania Legislature, the same people who have saddled the state with a potential $2 billion budget deficit, are giving themselves a pay raise.

These are the same people who have failed to take action on the state's transportation and health care needs. The same people who have done nothing to prevent skyrocketing electricity rates once caps expire. The same people who have failed to do anything about property taxes for the past 30 years.

But they will be getting an annual cost-of-living raise, effective Dec. 1.

House and Senate members will receive a 2.8 percent raise, setting lawmakers' base pay at $78,315, according to The Harrisburg Patriot-News.

Pay for the 30 legislative leaders will range from $89,300 to $122,254 after Dec. 1, when the annual COLA raise kicks in, the newspaper says.

The Legislature passed a bill in 1995 that automatically gives its members a pay raise unless a majority votes against the annual COLA. To date, lawmakers have never rejected the money.

Gov. Rendell, his cabinet and state judges will get the same 2.8-percent increase, effective Jan. 1. The governor's salary will rise to $174,956.

From The Patriot-News article:

For lawmakers, who according to their attorneys have no right to forgo the raise, it will keep their fourth-place national ranking in legislative salaries. California at $116,208, Michigan at $79,650, and New York at $79,500 pay more.

Pennsylvania is one of four states that grant lawmakers automatic cost-of-living raises, according to Morgan Cullen of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Read the full story at the newspaper's Web site.

John Perzel, who a few short years ago was the most powerful member of the Pennsylvania Legislature, takes one more shot at a leadership post today.

The former Speaker of the House has been losing his grip on Harrisburg power ever since he pushed for the ill-fated, middle-of-the-night pay raise in July 2005. The backlash from the pay raise (and Perzel's continued defense of the action) knocked the Republicans out of the majority in the House in November 2006.

Because the Democratic majority in the House was a slim 102-101, Perzel attempted to hold the Speaker post by enticing three Democrats to vote for him, but six Republicans turned against Perzel, ending his bid to hold the Speaker's office.

Reduced to the silly title of "Speaker Emeritus" over the past two years, Perzel has been plotting a comeback. He will challenge Rep. Sam Smith for the post of House Minority Leader when the GOP Caucus holds a close-door leadership vote today.

If Perzel loses, which he probably will, his days in the Legislature may be numbered. When you've called the shots as long as Perzel has, it won't be easy to sit in the back of the House chamber as just a rank-and-file member for another two years.

Two things are working against a Perzel comeback. One is the revelation that Perzel allegedly hired an investigator to dig up dirt on fellow Republicans. Everybody expects dirty tricks in politics, but not against your own party members.

The second revelation is a published report by The Philadelphia Inquirer that a grand jury is looking at whether House Republican leaders, including Perzel, improperly used a $9 million taxpayer-funded database to improve their chances of winning elections.

House Republicans want to run away from Perzel, much like House Democrats are trying to distance themselves from their tainted leader, Bill DeWeese.

Smith, while not the most effective floor leader, hasn't made as many enemies as Perzel has over the years. Expect Smith to retain his leadership post when the House Republican Caucus convenes today to pick its leadership slate for the next two years.

As for DeWeese, he's already announced he won't seek another term as House Majority Leader. In other words, he jumped overboard before House Republicans pushed him off the plank. DeWeese is willing to accept the No. 3 leadership post in the House Democratic Caucus, but that's not a sure thing, either.

The Bonusgate scandal is widely credited with preventing House Democrats from increasing their slim majority despite the Obama landslide in Pennsylvania. So far, 12 people associated with the House Caucus are facing criminal charges in a scheme to use taxpayer funds for political work. DeWeese has not been charged, but his chief of staff testified in court that DeWeese was aware of the diversion of tax dollars for political campaign work.

It looks like we won't have Bill DeWeese to kick around anymore.

The embattled House Democratic Majority leader is dropping out of the race for another two-year term as floor leader to avoid the embarrassment of having his own Caucus members show him the door.

Prominent House Democrats attempted a coup earlier this year to force DeWeese to resign as Majority Leader, but he held on to his post ... at least for a few more months.

DeWeese survived a scare at the polls on Nov. 4 when he managed to beat Greg Hopkins, an under-funded opponent by just 2,107 votes. (DeWeese actually lost to Hopkins in Greene County, the heart of the 50th House District.)

DeWeese ran the Democratic Caucus during the Bonusgate scandal, in which politicians allegedly used millions of taxpayer dollars to pay state employees for doing campaign work.

Although DeWeese is not one of the 12 people connected to the Democratic Caucus to face criminal charges so far and maintains his innocence, his chief of staff testified in court that DeWeese was aware of the diversion of taxpayer funds for political purposes.

The Bonusgate scandal, the lingering mistrust of Harrisburg lawmakers over the 2005 pay raise vote and the inability of DeWeese to get any major Democratic legislation passed in the House during the past two years sealed his fate.

Perhaps the Democrats can come up with a new title for DeWeese, like the Republicans did for John Perzel, the former Speaker of the House who was dethroned by his one party members after the pay raise fiasco and the GOP's loss of the House majority. Perzel became the "Speaker Emeritus" of the House after he lost the powerful Speaker post.

Maybe DeWeese can now be "Leader Emeritus" as the Democrats attempt to pick up the pieces left by their self-destructive leadership.

DeWeese's departure means that 3 of the 4 top Legislative leaders who pushed for the middle-of-the-night pay raise are no longer holding their leadership posts.

Joining DeWeese and Perzel in exile is Robert C. Jubelirer, the Senate Pro Tempore at the time of the July 2005 pay raise. Jubelirer was voted out of office in 2006.

For good measure, Senate GOP Majority Leader David Brightbill was also kicked out by voters. The only legislative leader who survived the purge is Robert Mellow, the Democratic Minority Leader in the Senate.