Photo Has Pa. Pay Raise Opponents Snickering

KYW Newsradio ^ | Saturday, October 15, 2005 | Tony Romeo

[grjr21]

As the controversy over a pay raise for Pennsylvania lawmakers continues, a public relations event at a Pittsburgh elementary school this week turned out worse than state House speaker John Perzel of Philadelphia could have pictured -- literally.

At the school event, Speaker Perzel again tangled with reporters over the pay raise (see related story) -- prompting a blistering editorial in Friday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette saying the speaker’s “arrogance was on full display.”

But to make matters worse, says Prof. Terry Madonna, political analyst and pollster at Franklin and Marshall College, a photograph (above right) published by another Pittsburgh newspaper, the Tribune-Review, shows Perzel in the classroom in front of a bulletin board festooned with dollar bills and pink paper pigs:

“And the big pink pig has been a sign by the opponents that legislators are pigs at the trough. And the net effect of this is that photo and images of the session with these elementary kids did not portray the speaker in the best light.”

(Photo: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

[grjr21]

I have to go clean the coffee of my keyboard now

[grjr21]

They called me for the most recent Quinnipiac University Poll and the first question they asked me was about the pay raises.
That got me so mad I have no idea what the other questions were or what my replies were

[drt1]

LOL. The kids must have been doing assignments in a class on Political Science and the display was a demonstration of the key determinants of political success - Money and Pork.

You could put virtually any Pol in that picture and it would be fitting. Trouble is, the low esteem in which they are held by their constituents really doesn't matter.

[King Prout]

LOL!

[King Prout]

your neighbors to the east... this is too funny

[agrace]

What's the story? I did a google search and found that the raise was over 10k in base pay and that the dem minority leader stripped 15 dems who voted against the pay raise from leadership positions (nice strong arm there), but what's the history of the whole thing?

[grjr21]

The story isn't Dem or Rep.
It's elected officials against their consistuants
Large Pay raise done in secret in the middle of the night.

[mtbopfuyn]

Oink, oink!

[oldtimer2]

The pay raise was done at 2:00 am and to get around the law that the raise could not take effect until after an election, they added an unvouchered amount equal to the raise for this year. The raise made them the second highest paid legislators in the country. They also added a section that in the future their pay will automatically go up at the same as U.S.Congress so that they will never have to vote on a pay raise again.
There is a serious effort to target every incumbent next election.

[carumba]

Okay, class, lets review the tips for web navigation safety...

[manwiththehands]

LOL! (snort) LOL! This is a classic.

Since there is no mention of Dem or Repub, I would assume Dem since the story came from a big city newspaper.

[Bar-Face]

Not being familiar with the Pennsylvania house make up this got me to wondering. Is this a another case of Republicans acting like Democrats or a case of Democrats acting like Republicans?

[oldtimer2]

It is a case of Dems and Reps acting like the "PIGS" and thinking nothing will happen. After all it is over a year until the next election.

the idiot voters will never remember.

[grjr21]

The Pennsylvania House is Republican controlled.

Several Dem's voted against the pay raise .
then the Dem Minority leaders stripped them of their committee positions in retaliation for the vote.

So It's more of a case of a Pig acting like a Pig.

[11Bush]

I'm sure the moos were offened by the pig images too.

[Jalapeno]

sounds like Enron stuff

[HarleyLady27]

Its a bunch of DemocRATS acting like the asses they are....

[thebaron512]

There are very few real Republans in PA and most of the fakes are around Pittsburgh it seems.

[hipaatwo]

Ping

[PhillyMom]

This is classic. Since you're from his area, do you know why he was in Pittsburgh instead of Northeast Philly? This guy is so arrogant! When asked about the 16-54% pay increase by a reporter when Perzel was coming out of the elementary school, he said, NEXT QUESTION!!

Speaker of the house?
Feeding at the trough
Taking what we have
And more through greed and sloth
Cunning little brain
Regular Voltaire
Making deals and spinning wheels
With Jubilirer
What a cruel trick of nature
Sticking us with such a louse
God knows how we’ve lasted
Living with this Speaker in the house!

Everybody bless the Speaker!
Everybody bless his House!
Everybody raise a glass
And maybe all of this will pass!

Everybody raise a glass to the Speaker of the House !