The state legislators in Pennsylvania decided last year to vote themselves a pay raise — in the dead of noight, hoping that no one would notice.
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Perzel says many colleagues are in a financial pickle
By Julie Shaw, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
First, it was Lancaster cow milkers. Now, it’s tattoo artists.
Maybe Pennsylvania House Speaker John M. Perzel (R., Phila.) just wasn’t thinking or maybe he spoke too fast when he was interviewed at Harrisburg TV station WITF Thursday for the Smart Talk show.
Perzel defended last year’s ill-fated pay-raise legislation, saying that some lawmakers have debt issues and noting that there’s at least one Philadelphia tattoo artist who makes more than a state lawmaker’s $72,187 salary.
“We have roughly 30-some members who can’t apply for a credit card because their credit’s so bad,” Perzel said. “And I know a lot of people out there watching this show have the same exact problem.”
He added: “When I see that a tattoo artist in the city of Philadelphia makes more than a legislator, I think there’s a problem. I thought the members of the General Assembly were worth one-half of what a member of Congress makes.”
Well, wahhh!
The print edition version of this story has some additional information not in the online story — like the fact that the average yearly pay for a worker in Pennsylvania was about $38,000 in 2004. It is unsurprising that state legislators, whose base salary (they get expenses, too, you know) was already twice that of the average worker, weren’t really thrilled when the legislature voted to raise its base from $72,187 to $81,050.
Speaker Perzel wants to see state legislative salaries tied to congressional salaries. Well, of course he does! That way, when congressmen vote themselves a pay raise — which they have done for the last seven sessions, and are trying to do once again – Pennsylvania’s state legislators would get a pay raise themselves, without the uncomfortable necessity of voting for it.
After all, last month’s primary elections resulted in the defeat of seventeen sitting legislators, most of them Republicans, and the pay raise was the primary reason for it.
Speaker Perzel also noted that there are at least 25 members of the Pennsylvania House who have been there for twenty-five years. OK, if so, then they should have, by now, learned to live within their means. If they keep running for reelection, they must find the salary acceptable.
One of those long-serving representatives is Keith McCall, a Democrat who represents my district. He was elected, at age 22, to fill the seat vacated by the death of his father, in 1982, and has been reelected every term since then. He’s 45 years old now, and has done virtually nothing else but be a state legislator. Mr. McCall voted for the pay raise.
Dear John,
Thank you for your letter expressing your disapproval of my vote for the recent salary increases. As you can imagine, you are not alone in your opinion and, be assured, this was not an easy vote.
There is a public misconception about the measure that I believe needs clarification; this vote did not simply increase the pay of legislators. My vote affected over 1200 public officials spread throughout all three branches of government ranging from the governor to cabinet members to legislators to members of the judiciary.
For some time, Governor Ed Rendell has expressed to the legislature the difficulties he has faced, and those that his predecessors faced, in finding individuals willing to leave the private sector for less paying positions in the executive branch of our state government. In past years, this very real and substantial pay disparity caused some immensely talented people to turn down positions of public service. In the case of the governor’s cabinet members, you should know that Governor Rendell has twice had to replace his Secretary of Education in less than three years. In fact, last year we lost one of the finest we ever had when Dr. Vicki Phillips resigned to take a position in the state of Oregon, where she will have less responsibility and make twice the salary she made here in Pennsylvania. It would be a disaster for Pennsylvania to lose other outstanding cabinet officials like Secretary Dennis Yablonski of the Department of Community and Economic Development, or Secretary Estelle Richman of the Department of Public Welfare. I believe that making their salaries competitive with similar positions in other states will help make sure Pennsylvania is served by the very best men and women in the nation.
Given the challenges that face our state?s government, I believe the citizenry of our state deserve the very best leadership it can obtain in all branches of the government. The dollars that comprise the compensation package needed to recruit such leaders represents a wise investment, given the responsibilities, power, and influence of these men and women. We negotiate a 50 Billion dollar budget every year. I personally Chair the House Transportation Committee which considers more legislation and amendments to legislation to than any other standing committee. I sit on the State Transportation Commission which prioritizes road construction programs for the entire Commonwealth. Extremely sensitive position, I am the first Carbon County legislator to ever serve in such a capacity, I serve on the Rail Freight Advisory Committee. The Railroad System Changes Task Force. The PA Aviation Advisory Committee and the Pennsylvania Pedal cycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. I also serve on the Policy Committee.
As a state legislator, I know of the challenges and responsibilities of public service, and I gladly accept them. I want this job because I want to make a difference for our region and its residents. Through my years in office, I believe I have helped to improve our local economy, our job markets, and our highways and bridges. Every two years, I receive an evaluation of my performance by my employers, my constituents, in the form of an election. I stand on my record proudly, still wanting to build upon past successes. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. But I am well aware of the difficulties of the job. I am proud to say I am a full-time state representative. I have no other job. I earn no other income. In my life three things are important: God, my family, and my job – in that order – despite the fact that my job takes up most of my time.
I love my job as I love our community. My work, day-in and day-out, is non-stop. Unlike workers in the private sector, legislators who take their job as seriously as I do rarely have any time off or, frankly, much of a private life. Whether I am in a grocery store, at my son’s soccer game, or at a friend’s wedding, I am nearly always approached by at least one constituent in need of help, a citizen wanting to express an opinion, or someone with a question. My work in Harrisburg, in our communities, my district office, and throughout the state is a professional calling that I am grateful for but one that I work very hard at. Simply put, I believe I have earned and will continue to earn every dollar I am paid for to serve my legislative district given the extensive commitment, knowledge, and time it takes to be an effective legislator. The truth is that most of the men and women I serve with in the State House work very hard and very long hours. My own work weeks usually are seven days, and consist of 80-plus hours, whether I am in Harrisburg, back home in the district, or all across the state attending committee meetings. When I am in Harrisburg, I am in the capitol every night, answering mail, returning phone calls. When I finally leave, it is late. However, I am NOT the last of my colleagues to turn out the lights!
Now PLEASE do not misunderstand or twist my words or their meaning; I am not complaining. I am honored to serve the men and women of the 122nd district. If I felt differently, I would resign. However, I believe I deserve to be compensated for the work I do, which has resulted in a great many successes.
Again, I appreciate your input. While we do not agree on this issue, I hope you will continue to contact me about your view and comments. I assure you that I will give you my undivided attention and consideration in representing your views and needs.
Sincerely,
KEITH R. McCALL
State Representative
122nd Legislative District
Mr McCall said that he deserved to be compensated for the work he does. But, as he also noted, he faces the voters every two years, essentially asking for an employee evaluation from his constituents. That much is certainly true — but it also means that, every two years, he asks the voters to rehire him for his current job! If he didn’t think the salary was adequate, he could look for another job.
Mr McCall is apparently proud of the pay raise vote, and thought the raise was deserved — even though the legislature repealed it four months later due to the political firestorm it generated. And his arguments in favor of it deserve due consideration. Perhaps they would have received reasoned consideration, perhaps they would have been listened to by the public with more sympathy, if the legislature hadn’t voted its own pay raise around midnight!
The legislators knew it would be controversial; that’s why they brought it up with a year and a half before they faced the voters again, and that’s why they voted on it very late at night, hoping no one would notice. They claimed that the late night vote was simply the result of how legislative business effected their schedule, but that’s just plain bovine feces; anyone with an IQ high enough to be a state legislator should have known how such a vote would look, and put it off until ordinary business hours.
I have no problem with the idea that the legislators might deserve a pay raise, but if they believe they need one, they should be open and honest about it, make their cases in broad daylight, inform the public and journalists well in advance, and make it look to the people like they are being forthright.
And if they don’t like the pay, they can always get another stinking job. I wonder what Mr McCall could find in his home town of Coaldale that paid him the more than $81,000 he tried to get in base salary.
Watching these thieves for 34 years they don’t even deserve the money they get now. The recently enacted tax relief bill from this group is nothing more than a shell game. They alledge slot money will give us relief, but the provision to get relief by another income tax is just switching the pain. The reps for the most part turned into RINOS under Rendell and we got a whopping tax increase from that. So, they can complain all they want, they don’t deserve any raise. I wish the plan to reduce the number of legislators go through. If they want to get the pay of Congress, let’s get the same representation and lower the House of Reps to our Congressional number. It would be a reduction of something like 150 to down to 19. Then I would consider a raise.
Dear Mr. Keith McCall,
I appreciate your response to my inquiry concerning your rationale for supporting and voting for the massive legislative pay increase. Regrettably I find your rationale illogical, unreasonable and not the least bit persuasive. In fact your response to my inquiry sounds more like you are trying to justify your support and vote to yourself.
You say that the Governor and his predecessors expressed to the legislature their difficulties attracting the best and the brightest from the private sector for lesser paying jobs in the executive branch of our government. I have no reason to dispute that claim. However, it is illogical to me to increase the salaries of over 1200 public officials to attract a few qualified individuals for executive positions.
You make the comment that it would be a disaster for Pennsylvanians to lose a cabinet official like Secretary Estelle Richman. According to a July 26th article in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Secretary stated that she was “pretty upset†at lawmakers that approved a raise for themselves in a state budget that cuts benefits in medical care to the poor. It would appear to me that if the Secretary would abandon the high privilege of public service it would not be over an issue of inadequate compensation but more from pure disgust that the state does not make sure that our most vulnerable citizens have their needs taken care.
I was offended that you could be so brazen to suggest that persons in the private sector have a greater advantage in reference to leisure time. Surely you must be aware that people are working longer hours and often times are working more than one job. In many instances, unlike years past, it is necessary for a spouse to find work to help make ends meet. They, like so many of our senior citizens on fixed incomes, find themselves further behind when costs rise faster than their income. These hard working people and the seniors help pay for government. With all their worries and all the demands on their time they often do not have the leisure time to stay informed of what is going on in their state house. I believe that they trust that their representative will do the right thing. Your support and affirmative vote for massive pay raise for yourself and your colleagues violated and betrayed that trust and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that you are sworn to uphold.
It is illogical and delusional to think that elected government officials will ever be able to compete with corporate salaries. Since when is how hard you work a measure of what salary you deserve? If that were the case then caregivers, teachers, nurses, and social workers etc. would be the richest of all. However, these hard working people do not have the authority to vote themselves a raise. They do not have the opportunity to do a self-evaluation that determines their self worth.
In closing you assure me that you will give me your undivided attention and consideration in representing my views and needs. I consider that a condescending invitation. It appears to me to be backwards. The proper time for my input or the input of any other constituent would be before an action is taken. Given the history of House Bill 1521 there was ample time to collect feedback from your constituents. You, as did every other member of the House, chose to present this Bill at the least appropriate time for obvious reasons. I would gladly have offered my opinion on this matter before the action, even at 2:00 A.M.. I did not receive any such call and I am curious as to whom you solicited for input. I am hopeful that when you return to the House, you will co-sponsor each Bill that is introduced to repeal this shameful deed and attempt to regain the trust of your hard working constituents of the 122nd District.
Sincerely Yours,
John J. Wieczorek
October,3 2005
And now comes this story:
Now the Commonwealth is having to pay for the legal defense of the lawsuits against the legislature for the pay raise!
When I ran for the House of Delegates in Maryland, the pay was $3500 per year and the position was a part-time. There was a great merit in such an arrangement.
The strength of our political system was based on lay legislators (reference to members of the Kennedy clan is not being inferred) rather than full-time politicians. This concept assures a diversity of expertise rather than an assemblage of third-rate lawyers who tend to trip over their own feet while chasing ambulances. The hacks who tend to infest our legislatures tend to be relative dullards who believe that any problem can be solved by more regulation and bigger bureaucracies. They often use the advice of lobbyists to fill in the many voids in their areas of experience.
While some complain of the decisions of juries, we might do better with randomly-selected persons from a similar pool than with folks elected on the basis of name recognition or hollow slogans.
You’re right about that, Art! keith McCall, “my” representative, was first elected, to replace his late father, when he was 22 years old. He’s 45 now, and still there; what else has he done?
[...] I used Speaker Perzel’s comments in an article last weekend, and he’s not gotten any better; he has found himself in a hole, and is trying to dig his way back out. He’s an idiot, and he needs to go. [...]
[...] to John Wieczorek, of Pennsylvania’s Operation Clean Sweep, following the pay raise debacle; you can read it here, on this site, even though the original link has lapsed. But in that letter, Mr McCall did say one [...]