State GOP joins critics of pay raise
Perzel, in defense of salary, says milkers make $50,000
Sunday, September 11, 2005
BY MONICA VON DOBENECK Of The Patriot-News
House Speaker John M. Perzel defended the legislative pay raises to members of the Republican State Committee yesterday.
But the committee still voted unanimously to acknowledge "great concern" among the party faithful about the raises that boosted lawmakers' salaries from 16 percent to 54 percent.
Several said after the meeting they would have preferred a more strongly worded resolution asking lawmakers to repeal the raises.
Perzel, speaking publicly for the first time about the pay hike that lawmakers granted themselves and other state officials, said immigrant workers milking cows in Lancaster County earn $50,000 to $60,000 a year, so $81,000 for a state legislator is not unreasonable.
The $81,000 is the base salary for legislators. Most will earn more. Perzel's salary, with his $37,000 raise, is $145,000.
The raises, making the lawmakers the second highest paid state legislators in the nation, have sparked a statewide backlash. Anti-raise efforts range from Internet campaigns vowing to oust the entire General Assembly to petition drives demanding the revocation of the raises.
The Philadelphia lawmaker told the politely listening audience at the Hilton Harrisburg & Towers that he slept in his van when he was first elected to the state House in 1978 because he couldn't afford a hotel room.
He said he worked two jobs so he could pay two staff members, and he still drives a 10-year-old Mazda Miata.
He said legislators often miss watching their children grow up because of the time they have to spend in Harrisburg or answering constituent calls. He said he and his family have received death threats and have had bricks thrown through a window.
"Those are some of the things we have to face," he said. "When I'm asked if I'm ashamed that the General Assembly is now making half of what Congress makes, I am not. And if you're asking me whether or not that I'm going back to fight to repeal what we've done, I am not."
Dick Stewart, a committee member from Cumberland County, got cheers from many of the others in attendance when he said the Central Caucus, which he chairs, would have preferred a strong resolution asking for Republican lawmakers to revoke the pay hike.
After the meeting, he said members "felt very strongly that we wanted a more frank expression of our unhappiness."
Perzel's speech didn't change his mind, he said, adding that a committee member from Franklin County whispered to him, "I never heard such high-level whining."
"We don't want Republicans thinking that the Republican Party stands behind the pay increases," Stewart said. "It's not a party position, and we were not consulted."
Virginia Ulrich, a committee woman from Dauphin County, said the Republican Party is supposed to stand for "lower taxes and less government" and "some of us still stand on Republican principles."
She said she was particularly angry that the raises passed in the middle of the night with no public comment.
Of Perzel's speech, she said, "No one says he has to keep the job if he doesn't like the pay."
Bob Bair, who was casting a proxy vote for a committee member from York County, said he is a farmer and questioned Perzel's figures on farmers' salaries.
"He should be made to produce those figures," he said. "I think it would be difficult to find folks in York or Lancaster [counties] making that kind of money milking as a laborer."
David Majernik of Allegheny County, who drafted the anti-raise resolution, said Friday that he agreed to the compromise wording to avoid a bitter floor fight.
Lebanon County's Democratic Committee and Lancaster County's Republican Committee both passed resolutions this week condemning the pay raise.
MONICA VON DOBENECK: 832-2090 or mdobeneck@patriot-news.com
Source: http://www.pennlive.com
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