Posted on 11/10/2005 3:45:19 AM PST by grjr21
In the beginning, experts gave it a week. Two, tops.
Now, a state Supreme Court justice finds himself out of a job, and other incumbents in Harrisburg are left sweating over their political futures because of what pundits are calling a "populist insurrection."
The anti-pay-raise movement that many had dismissed early on as a passing thunderstorm is developing into a Category 5 hurricane that threatens to uproot incumbents across the state next year.
"Rome is burning, and the empire is crumbling," said State Rep. Thomas C. Petrone (D., Allegheny), who took the raise but later donated it to charities, including those for the widows of two U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. "I hate the thought that I made one mistake over 25 years that could wipe out all my good accomplishments."
On Tuesday, in a stunning turn for Pennsylvania politics, state Supreme Court Justice Russell M. Nigro unwittingly became the first justice in state history to be denied another 10 years on the bench - the first casualty of the pay-raise backlash.
Now the question becomes: Will anger over the pay raise and, by extension, the Capitol's insular culture, spur voters to kick other incumbents to the curb?
One lawmaker, Rep. Frank LaGrotta (D., Lawrence), started getting e-mails early yesterday warning that he was next to go.
LaGrotta initially voted for the raise, took it, and just last week voted to repeal it, given the public's anger. "I voted to repeal it. What else do they want from me?" a frustrated LaGrotta asked. "Do they want my firstborn child?"
Political analysts agreed yesterday that Tuesday's ouster of Nigro was a reflection of voter anger fanned by a coalition of anti-pay-raise groups that banded together, vowing not to let the issue die.
The groups set as their first target the high court, which they blamed for issuing rulings over the years that have allowed lawmakers to craft constitutionally questionable legislation - including this summer's bill to increase salaries for legislators, judges, and top executive officers.
And Tuesday's election was the first real test of their legitimacy. The results were historic: Nigro went down in a razor-thin defeat. His colleague, Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, managed to hold on to her judicial seat.
"All of the politicians who said that people don't care about this stuff, that they don't understand it, they were wrong," said Tim Potts, founder of Democracy Rising, the group that led the campaign against Nigro and Newman. "Who is not smart enough now?"
The next battleground is the 2006 elections, when all 203 House seats and half of those in the 50-member Senate, as well as Gov. Rendell's tenure, will be on the ballot. The anti-pay-raise groups have announced that they have lined up 51 people to run against incumbent lawmakers.
If those legislators want to keep their jobs, they must start making amends, political analysts from opposite parties and opposite sides of the state said yesterday.
"If you are running for reelection, you better run as a reformer next year," said Republican William J. Green, a Pittsburgh-based political analyst.
Said former Democratic campaign consultant Larry Ceisler of Philadelphia: "They have six months to right the ship and show constituents that they are connected."
That goes for Rendell, as well.
Already, Republicans eyeing his job are making an issue of the fact that the governor signed into law the July pay raise that increased legislative base pay by 16 percent to about $81,000 annually.
"There is one person who could have stopped it, and that is Ed Rendell," said Ray Zaborney, executive director of Lynn Swann's likely GOP gubernatorial bid.
Through his press secretary, Kate Philips, Rendell declined comment for this article.
Rendell's media strategist, Neil Oxman, said he agreed that "people are obviously angry, but a year is a really long time, and there are a thousand other things that can happen."
"This is not going to be as acute an issue a year from now," he predicted.
In some ways, Rendell and Nigro are alike. They are both Philadelphia Democrats who need statewide approval, said Mike Young, a former Pennsylvania State University professor who has tracked state politics for three decades. Rendell "is a single target on the horizon. He is not one of a zillion lawmakers up for reelection," Young said.
Rendell's strongest base of support is in the southeastern portion of the state, where anger over the raise is not as intense, but he will still need votes in portions of the state where voter rage is at its highest, Young said.
Unofficial results from Tuesday's election show that pockets of south-central and southwestern Pennsylvania tallied the highest margins of disapproval for Nigro.
G. Terry Madonna, a pollster and political science professor at Franklin and Marshall College, said that if the anti-pay-raise sentiment can be sustained through 2006, lawmakers from those pockets of the state could be most at risk.
"Some lawmakers ought to be quaking in their boots," he said.
Others argue that what happened Tuesday won't spill over into next year's election.
They point out that most voters didn't know Nigro. And, they added, Nigro had no opponent - other than the movement.
And some said privately that Nigro, unlike Newman, turned down an offer from Rendell to tape last-minute phone messages of support.
Newman's son, Jonathan Newman, said his mother believes that voters did not turn her retention into a one-issue campaign. "The majority of the people saw beyond that issue," said Jonathan Newman, who is chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
But in an interview yesterday, Nigro said he believed he became a victim of the movement.
"I believe the public was so angry with the legislature they became blinded," said Nigro, who narrowly lost his seat, with 51 percent voting no. "They said, 'We don't care. Get rid of him.' "
LaGrotta, the Democrat from Lawrence County, agreed.
"I see a very good Supreme Court justice who was targeted by people who were trying to prove a point. And that's sad," he said. "Even the mafia has a code of ethics where innocents are not targeted."
Rendell on Legislative Raise
July 6 -- When asked to comment on legislators' taking pay raises through expense accounts, circumventing a constitutional ban on midterm raises, he said: "It's legal - and that's all I'm going to say about it."
July 8 - Calling the pay-raise legislation a "good bill," he signed it into law because it contained more good than bad, specifically providing raises for judges.
Aug. 8- "I can understand the consternation, particularly with taking the pay raise in the form of [legislative expense accounts]," he said, publicly criticizing lawmakers for the first time for taking the raise in midterm.
Sept. 12- Rendell criticizes the way lawmakers took the pay raise as "possibly illegal," and adds he would sign a bill that would repeal the provision that allowed lawmakers to take raises through legislative accounts.
Nov. 3 - Rendell said he would sign a bill to repeal the pay raise for lawmakers, as long as such a measure allowed for judges to keep their higher paychecks. He said the pay-raise issue had become "a huge distraction" that had given government "a black eye."
"I believe the public was so angry with the legislature they became blinded," said Nigro, who narrowly lost his seat, with 51 percent voting no. "They said, 'We don't care. Get rid of him.' "
LaGrotta, the Democrat from Lawrence County, agreed.
"I see a very good Supreme Court justice who was targeted by people who were trying to prove a point. And that's sad," he said. "Even the mafia has a code of ethics where innocents are not targeted.""
SOB .
A damn Demonrat politician wants to comment on my ethics. Unbelievable.
Get out, dirtbag!!
"I hate the thought that I made one mistake over 25 years that could wipe out all my good accomplishments."
A Dem politician, who has only made one mistake in 25 years. The chutzpah is almost blinding.
"Even the mafia has a code of ethics where innocents are not targeted."
Where do the millions/billions of dollars extorted and stolen by the mob, come from? Do they take up a collection among themselves? Of course, a Dem politico would not recognize the fleecing of the masses, for the uses of their betters.
Pennsylvania is another Northeast state that has been in deep, deep trouble for the last 30 years. Pennsylvania averages 47th in job creation even during the best economic times. Our taxes continue to climb, mostly so it can be diverted to school unions and construction unions that are very, very powerful in the Keystone State.
Elected Republicans (at the state level) are very weak and are more interested in pork than solid conservative principles.
Pennsylvania is one of the most moderate states....Republicans like Specter and Ridge are weak and Democrats like Casey and Holden are likewise. Moderates do not create a paradise, just an incoherent mass of gov't spending with no direction.
Oh, we also have far, far too many retired people (second only to Florida now) that demand more and more support services.
"LaGrotta initially voted for the raise, took it, and just last week voted to repeal it, given the public's anger."
So, in other words, the only reason the good legislator voted to repeal the pay raise is because of the public's anger, not that the raise was undeserved.
And the Republicans at the Federal level are different how?
With a very few exceptions any don’t see the distinction.
Yea wanna bet
This was an off year election ... the next one isn't and will pull even more voters out
LaGrotta was caught lying about what he said on KDKA Radio concerning the pay raise. It was taped. LaGrotta was on KDKA one day (I heard it); he said something about the raise. LaGrotta was on KDKA again a few days later and said, "I didn't say that". The talk show host PLAYED THE CLIP! Busted! And, IIRC, he tried to get out of it. Slime.
It's called public service for a reason, you rumpswab.
Un-Freakin Believable!!!
I'm glad that got rid of at least ONE of the people who IS reponsible for the pay raise. Take note lawmakers, This may spread...
This will spread!
What the U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, State legislators,
judges, and top executive officers have done and don't
even realize it is that most people in the U.S. have
taken pay cuts, loss jobs, are under-employed, the mass
working force in the U.S. have loss ground in median
salary, jobs and cost of living and here are all the politicians and lawmakers giving themselves pay raises every year.
The federal politicians get a six (6) percent pay raise automatically across the board every year, they don't even have to vote on it anymore. This happened (I think) in 1978 when Congress voted for that so that it would
automatically be included in each years budget.
When call down on it the excuse was that the amount of
money that comes in their pay raise and salary was not even a drop in the ocean.
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