Critics hail vote, say lawmakers 'heard the outcry' of angry voters

PAY RAISE DEAD? Critics hail vote, say lawmakers 'heard the outcry' of angry voters Thursday, November 03, 2005 BY IRVIN KITTRELL III AND JIM LEWIS Of The Patriot-News Though Christmas is more than a month away, state lawmakers' vote to repeal the controversial pay raise last night moved one vocal critic to rejoice, "There is a Santa Claus."

WHP radio talk-show host Bob Durgin, who has railed against the 16 percent to 54 percent raises for the legislative, judicial and executive branches of state government, said he suspects senators voted to repeal out of fear for their political careers, not because they were in a giving mood.

The euphoria of pay-raise critics reflected the 50-0 Senate vote early in the evening. Late last night, the House voted 196-2 to repeal, but tacked on an amendment that left the fate of the raise unresolved.

"They're not doing this because people are demanding it," Durgin said of the repeal vote. "It's all about re-election. People may not re-elect them."

His opinion was shared last night by activists and other citizens who were stunned by the size of the raises, which were approved in the early hours of July 7 without public debate, and delighted that lawmakers had reconsidered.

"People can make a difference, it's as simple as that," said Gene Stilp of Middle Paxton Twp., an activist who filed a legal challenge to the constitutionality of the lawmakers' pay raise, which many of them took mid-term as unvouchered expenses.

"I think they've heard the outcry -- a lot of people are not happy with it," said John Edmund, a restaurant worker from Harrisburg, as he sat at the bar at Zembie's, a tavern only a couple blocks from the Capitol. "What every politician wants is another term. They don't want to do anything to jeopardize that, even if it means giving up their raise."

The raises angered Pennsylvania voters and resulted in a political backlash against lawmakers, said G. Terry Madonna, a professor of public affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.

"This struck a nerve, and the issue galvanized voters like I've never seen in 30 years," Madonna said.

While some citizens objected to the 2 a.m. July vote to raise salaries, many said they were steamed by the size of the raises.

"I thought it was ridiculous they took the amount they did with the economy as it is," said Steve Matrese, a Marysville sales representative for a beer company. "We all want to make more money, but it was a tough year."

The raises moved Bill McIntyre, a 72-year-old Camp Hill man, to get involved in politics, something he had not done before.

McIntyre sent an e-mail "birthday greeting" to the General Assembly on the one-month anniversary of the pay-raise vote. He received this reply from Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow, D-Lackawanna County: "Why don't you get a life."

McIntyre called last night's Senate vote a good thing, "but it's too little too late."

"They overstepped their bounds," he said. "Hopefully, the voters will wake up and see. Never again will I, along with many others, fall asleep and take our government for granted."

A repeal could restore credibility to the Legislature in the eyes of voters, said Eric Epstein, an activist with RockTheCapital.org, a Web site that protests the raises and urges visitors to oust legislators who voted for the increases.

"The improbable, the impossible, the unbelievable has become a reality," Epstein said. "The political landscape in Pennsylvania has been altered. The process has become people friendly."

Bobby Thiemann, a 29-year-old restaurant manager from Harrisburg, said he believes legislators will restore faith in politics if future raises are placed on election ballots and voters are given the final say.

"They're making 80 grand a year working part time," Thiemann said. "I think they deserve a raise, but I don't think they should determine what they get. Put it on the ballot. Let the people decide."

However, Russ Diamond, who started PACleanSweep.com to find opponents for all state politicians up for re-election, called the raise a symptom of a wider problem in the Legislature.

"If they did this once and we let them get away with it without a major change, then they will do it again," he said. "I assure you, they will do it again. Maybe not with a pay raise, but with something else. It's the process that needs [to be] fixed."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. IRVIN KITTRELL: 255-8412 or ikittrell@patriot-news.com JIM LEWIS: 255-8479 or jlewis@patriot-news.com

This is a triumph of citizen activism and what we can do when everybody joins in. It was started by Bob Durgin, a talk show host on WHP 580 Harrisburg, and was joined by the Patriot News to promote a petition drive to recind the pay raises, which were passed at 2:00 AM with no discussion. Bob was relentless and finally got 130.000 signatures to present to the lawmakers. Also helping was a drive to defeat every incumbent at their next election.

On Tuesday Nov. 8 we have an election and 2 judges were up for re-election and I think every legislator was afraid that they would go down, showing what was in store for incumbent lawmakers and judges.

This payraise really made nearly everyone mad and no one seemed to be ready to forget.

When we speak with a loud voice they WILL hear us.

That's...

Robert J. Mellow (D)
Senate District 22
ADDRESS: 	Senate Box 203022
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3022
ROOM:	535 Main Capitol Building
TELEPHONE:	(717) 787-6481
D.O. ADDRESS: 	524 Main Street
P.O. Box B
Peckville, PA 18452

Good luck to you OT. I cannot believe that there will be a mass "firing" - it would be fitting, but such blindness often goes unpunished.

"This is a triumph of citizen activism and what we can do when everybody joins in. It was started by Bob Durgin, a talk show host on WHP 580 Harrisburg, and was joined by the Patriot News to promote a petition drive to recind the pay raises, which were passed at 2:00 AM with no discussion."

The PA pols are clearly rank ameteurs. Here in Massachusetts, the professional political hacks will hold a secret session to vote on this sort of self serving pay hike on Christmas Eve, at about 11pm, and make it effective the next day, or maybe New Year's Day, if they are feeling particularly giddy.

Add to that ignoring legal referendum vote results and deliberately under/unfunding the will of the voters, and you have yourself a real, dirty, pro-Kennedy, Kerry licking legislature!

The PA Senate and House passed different versions of the bill, and nothing has passed. The House version has a clause that could end up reinstating the pay-raise. The pay-raise is illegal, and both parties are to blame. Vote NO on retaining the two PA judges on November 8th. Vote the rest of the bums out next year.

The government's not a private playground for the politicians. It works for all of us and they should remember who pays their checks. If they're that insufferable not to listen to the people, well nothing is stopping them from looking for other work. Its high time the political class lived under the same rules the rest of us do.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We're Know We're Dead Wrong.")

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