Redstate

The issue that's still dynamite in the Commonwealth

By Mark Kilmer Posted in 2006 — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

It was at two in the morning on July 7, 2005, that the Pennsylvania House and Senate voted to increase their salaries and those of State judges. The State constitution proscribed any such increase taking effect before lawmakers faced voters, to they simply opted to give themselves "unvouchered expenses."

On the 8th, Governor Ed Rendell signed and defended this already-controversial measure:

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Calling it "good legislation," Gov. Rendell signed a bill yesterday that boosts base pay by 16 percent for lawmakers and by as much as 34 percent for House and Senate leaders.

The law also grants similar raises to judges, top executive officials, cabinet members and the governor. Rendell said he would not accept his scheduled $21,313 increase.

[ . . . ]
The governor also said concern that Pennsylvania now has the nation's second-highest-paid legislature was "outweighed by the positive and long-range benefits" associated with the new law.

"I also want to respond," he said, "to the criticism that our legislators do not work hard enough to justify this or any other increase." Legislation passed since he took office has "required a great deal of research, negotiations and just plain hard work to achieve," he said. "The General Assembly has been an equal partner in that effort."

This April, though, Ed changed his mind on why he had signed the bill:

“If I didn't sign it, I might have been governor for the next five years but I would have gotten nothing done, literally, because I need the cooperation of the Legislature,” he said. “I've had remarkable success in getting seven major initiatives enacted into law. ... So you have to kiss a little butt.”

He signed the pay increase to "kiss a little butt." I don't even want to ask what he was doing when he sang its praises.

Audacity is a fine word. Lunacy is another. Voters in the Commonwealth threw a fit, and the grassroots organized and flexed it muscle to oust several offending lawmakers in their May primaries, with a vow: "More to Come." After much bickering, the pay increase was eventually repealed by the State legislature, but it was too late to do some of them enough good.

That's the narrative. For a good timeline of Ed Rendell's actions regarding this pay raise, check the end of this Philadelphia Inquirer story.

The message from Ed's Republican opponent, Lynn Swann, is that Ed Rendell was the architect of the midnight pay increase:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to endorse the middle-of-the-night pay raise yesterday was a result of a four-year chain of events that began with Governor Ed Rendell’s consistent and unabashed support for this legislation.

Not only did the Governor actively lobby caucus leaders to introduce and pass his pay raise bill, but he went to great lengths to outline the “positive and long-ranging benefits” of the pay raise in a letter to the state Legislature last year.

Now thanks to Ed Rendell’s pay raise, the Supreme Court judges overwhelmingly voted to raise their own salaries yesterday using a law that the Governor deemed “good legislation” on July 8, 2005.

Only after Pennsylvanians revolted against the pay raise did Ed Rendell backtrack and claim that he orchestrated this bill to “kiss a little butt” with the Legislature.

But the Governor’s record is clear: he started the chain of events that led to yesterday’s decision to allow Harrisburg judges protect their own—a decision that he has publicly said that he agrees with.

Lynn Swann has said from his campaign’s inception that the pay raise was wrong, and that he would not have supported the measure under any circumstances.

Swann believes that the Governor should fight for Pennsylvanians—not for Harrisburg. And come next January, he will do just that as the next Governor of the Commonwealth.

The pay increase was very big in Pennsylvania, and it created something of a revolution in the Commonwealth on May 16. There is an energy here which can still be tapped, especially if angry voters are reminded that they still have to finish the job of removing those responsible.

First and foremost, Ed. The Democratic governor of the Commonwealth.

The gloves are coming off, it seems.

(This issue will also pay big in the Senate Race between Rick Santorum and Junior Casey. Check out the Santorumblog for details.)

[cross-posted at the SwannBlog.