If I were the Democratic leader in the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania House of Representatives, my next move would be as clear as the craven nature of an unvouchered expense account.
As I write, the state Senate has repealed the big pay raise, unvouchered expenses and all. Now, the question moves to the House.
There, the agenda is generally controlled by Speaker John "What Limo?" Perzel. It doesn't have to be Mr. Perzel's way or the highway this time, though, if there are any chess players on the Democratic side.
Mr. Perzel has famously said he won't allow a vote on pay repeal until he sees a majority for it. That's 102 votes.
Well, a House bill to repeal the unvouchered expenses already has 56 co-sponsors. So it's halfway home.
Those 56 include 40 Republicans and 16 Democrats. These rebel Republicans insist they're sincerely responding to the voice of the people, while Democratic leaders scoff that all those co-sponsorships are an elaborate charade. They don't commit anyone to anything.
In other words, Mr. Perzel can set things up so dozens of his party members look good while never allowing a vote that would cost them money. But beware Democratic righteousness, as exhibited by Tom Andrews, press secretary to House Democratic Leader Bill DeWeese.
"I guess what it comes down to is that the GOP is better at political pandering than the Democrats," Mr. Andrews said in a recent e-mail. "We want to actually stand for something and MEAN it.
"Getting things done when you're in the minority is not as simple as you make it sound."
Methinks he doth protest too much.
The uncomfortable truth is that both parties colluded in the pay increase that made the Pennsylvania Legislature, without question, America's Most Expensive. The base pay is now $80,050, and most of our 253 legislators get more. The Philadelphia Daily News recently estimated that, when benefits and perks are factored in, average compensation is $150,000 per year.
Fifty-eight Republicans and 61 Democrats voted for the new pay scale in the House, while 16 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted for it in the Senate. Having each party provide a majority in one of the chambers was a clever way to spread the blame while lawmakers took your money early. Most even took it in the form of unvouchered expenses in defiance of the state constitutional ban on any mid-term raise.
Divvying the votes was supposed to make it hard for us to know where to direct outrage, but the two parties since have managed to paint themselves into corners.
If House Minority Leader DeWeese cannot come up with enough Democrats to put repeal to a vote in his chamber, there will be no denying the Democrats' culpability in this.
There are 93 Democrats in the House. If DeWeese delivers two-thirds of them to go with the 40 Republican representatives already signed up for repeal, Mr. Perzel has two choices: Make repeal happen or have his party of limited government become the party of unlimited gall.
I asked Mr. Andrews if the Democrats would deliver the necessary votes.
"If any Democratic member wants to sign on to that," he said, "they're more than welcome." Republicans, however, "can make that happen without one Democratic vote." There are 110 of them in the 203-member House.
It sounds as if the Democrats are perfectly willing to forgo another opportunity to side with the little guy. Is anyone still clear on the differences between these two parties in Pennsylvania?
Insiders say the Republicans in the Senate backpedaled on the raise because their leaders, Robert Jubelirer of Altoona and David Brightbill of Lebanon, have seen polls that suggest this pay increase could lead to their defeat in 2006. One would hope polls show the same for all lawmakers across Pennsylvania, but some like their newfound money too much.
If the too-quick, too-slick and too-high increase is repealed, that should not be enough to appease an awakened populace. The next step would be reducing the size of America's Largest Full-Time State Legislature, a move that would save far more than any reduction in pay.
First Published: November 3, 2005, 5:00 a.m.
