Posted on 08/09/2005 10:29:34 AM PDT by Born Conservative
The governor attributes the reception in part to the recent pay raises for state officials and judges.
The crowd in the main tent at the 151st annual Reading Fair Monday night greeted Gov. Ed Rendell the way Philadelphia Eagles fans greet opposing NFL teams.
Rendell, a former Philadelphia mayor and Eagles season-ticket holder, said the boos the crowd unleashed when he stepped on stage before a concert by Steve Hall and the Shotgun Red Band probably resulted from two factors.
First, the audience dodged raindrops and lightning bolts to hear cover versions of Conway Twitty and Tammy Wynette songs, not a brief speech from a politician.
And a few of the boobirds likely were expressing their disgust with Rendell for signing a bill last month granting pay raises to himself, his Cabinet, judges and state lawmakers.
Rendell regretted breaking one of his personal rules for public appearances.
“I make a general rule never to speak at sporting events or before musical performances,” Rendell said after the crowd's rough welcome.
But Rendell made no apologies for signing the pay-raise bill.
He said judges had gone without a pay raise since 1995 and were making less than some recent law-school graduates heading into private practice.
Rendell also liked the concept of linking judges, lawmakers and other state officials' salaries to the pay levels of their counterparts in federal government.
Lawmakers are paid a minimum of $81,050 per year or exactly half of what members of Congress are paid. Any future pay raises will be tied to federal pay increases or cost-of-living adjustments.
“Those two benefits far outweigh any detriment in the bill,” Rendell said.
Other than the folks in the main tent, few of the people Rendell encountered during his hourlong stroll through the midway and cow stable showed any interest in talking politics.
Most, like Berks County Dairy Princess Amber M. Hallowell of Washington Township, were excited to pose for snapshots with the governor.
“You don't get to meet the governor every day,” beamed Hallowell, whose blond hair was damp from a passing storm.
Rendell, who has a reputation for a hearty appetite, scooped up a sausage sandwich, a funnel cake and a vanilla milkshake in between handshakes and photos.
But other than a sip from the milkshake, Rendell left all of the eating to his security team.
Until he spotted a stand selling bloomin' onions a deep-fried onion served with a small vat of dipping sauce.
“I almost got out of the fair without eating anything,” Rendell said.
Sometimes you gotta read between the lines.
Well, if I were in a position to sign a [modest, but decent] raise to myself, I'd shake the boos off, too. I might even be booing back, all the way to the bank.
What a bunch of BS! In Pittsburgh,unless you are on the national honors list, you aren't going to be going out of school and starting your own practice.. you are likely going to go work for the DA's office or at another law firm for a paltry sum. FEW go out and open their own business in this town, we have 4 schools pumping out lawyers every semester... there is a glut here! And only the best of the best get great offers. Fast Eddie need to be GONE, and the Republicans that voted for this need to be gone as well!
think Swann will take this guy down? i hope so and i am nowhere near PA
PA legislators just voted themselves the highest pay raise ever. They are the second highest paid after California, and CA has 3 times the population, with half the no. of legislators. Also, when you add in all of the perks PA gives its lawmakers like free medical, dental, retirement, free car and insurance, 125 per day per diem every day the legislature is in session, whether the lawmaker attends or not, plus the greatest number of 'staff' (family members on the take) per lawmaker at 11, they make me sick.
Modest? See post #6.
As a general rule -- not quite. Modesty and decency are rather judged by the workings of a beholder with a properly formed conscience, which takes into account contemporary community standards and unchanging laws of morality. Or something like that.
now matter=no matter
Al? Is that you Al?
Nope. Not even old Nick Machiavelli, although the original observation is to be credited to him.
Rendell is a crooked shyster who is now a crooked governor. He deserved to be booed off thestage.
Is this not the shadiest looking weasel you ever laid eyes on?
Perhaps you did not notice in my post, but my explanation was Not Machiavellian (or Gorish).
Perhaps you did not notice in my post (or chose not to) that the life around us proceeds largely by the rules stated by Machiavelli - that's why all these rendells and others grab and get all they could get away with. Indeed, it is a standard conservative position to believe that everyone is, or would like to be, a rendell and then try to organize the life in such a way as to limit their appetites. If people were angels [per Federalist papers], no government and no rendell would be either necessary or even possible.
"both modesty and decency are in the eye of beholder"
It has everything to do with it: in the eye of beholder there is the degree of external control over that beholder - i.e. in beholder's eye is what s/he could still get away with - and this latter boundary defines the beholder's standards of "modesty and decency".
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