Taking anger to Capitol

Taking anger to Capitol

About 1,000 people rallied against lawmakers’ pay raise.

By TOM JOYCE

Daily Record/Sunday News

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

John and Susan Wesley hoped to find state Rep. Bruce Smith, R-Dillsburg, in his Harrisburg office at about 3 p.m. But he was in a caucus meeting, so they added their names and addresses to a list of people filing in and out of Smith’s office Monday afternoon — angry people who wanted answers.

The couple had just left a rally where they joined about 1,000 similarly angry people on the front steps of the state Capitol. Several grassroots organizations put together Monday’s rally to protest the pay raise that members of the General Assembly voted themselves in July.

Undeterred by a light but persistent rain, the protesters listened to a number of speakers, occasionally shouting in unison as they hoisted protest signs and umbrellas. Members of the crowd clearly spanned the political spectrum. T-shirts bore liberal and conservative slogans. Cardboard signs were equally harsh in their assessment of Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, and state Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, a Republican.

The first rally wrapped up a little before 3 p.m. Soon after, radio host Bob Durgin of WHP-AM in Harrisburg took over to broadcast live for a lingering crowd. Durgin said he had petitions with 129,000 signatures calling for the repeal of the pay-raise and would hand-deliver them to the offices of House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia.

Like many of the participants, the Wesleys, of New Cumberland, took advantage of the pause to go inside and try to track down their elected leaders.

Smith voted in favor of the pay raise in July. Before that, the Wesleys supported him. Smith was Susan Wesley’s 10th-grade English teacher. Both did volunteer work for his campaigns a number of times over the past couple of decades.

Unless Smith starts supporting a move to revoke the pay raise, however, their days of supporting him are over. John Wesley said they contacted Smith about it previously, and he told them he voted for the pay raise because he believed that supporting the wishes of the caucus leadership in this case could help him do more for his district.

But John Wesley said what he finds particularly objectionable about the pay raise is the way that members of the General Assembly went about it. The vote took place after midnight with no debate or public notice.

And most lawmakers began collecting their raises immediately in the form of “unvouchered expenses,” a kind of catch-all “miscellaneous” category on expense reports, even though the state Constitution prohibits legislators from receiving any raise during the term in which it is passed.

There is legal precedent to back the use of unvouchered expenses. But far as John Wesley is concerned, it constitutes a far greater wrong on Smith’s part than failure to bring home the goods for his district.

“The intent, the spirit, of the law was violated,” he said.

In a phone interview later, Smith said he doesn’t intend to support the repeal of a measure that he previously voted for. He said he knew that voting for the pay raise would anger some constituents, but it was a judgment call on his part.

That’s simply the way things work at the state Capitol, Smith said. If you help out your caucus leadership, you’re able to wield more leverage not only for the sake of your district but also for the policies that you consider best for the state as a whole.

“Once in a great while, you have to put up an unpopular vote to accomplish more in Harrisburg,” Smith said.

At the rally, however, the protesters made it clear that they weren’t going to tolerate any such justification from lawmakers.

Groups as diverse as the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters, the Pennsylvania Council of Churches and Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania had tents set up. A nonpartisan group called Operation Clean Sweep, which has the stated intention of defeating every single incumbent officeholder up for re-election in 2006, was also collecting signatures.

A number of York County residents attended. Among them was Robert Jensenius, executive vice president of the York County Chamber of Commerce, who met with several county lawmakers to express the chamber’s displeasure with the pay raises.

York resident Patty Noaker, who drove up with her 14-year-old son, Chris, carried a sign that left no doubt where she stands on the issue. It displayed a drawing labeled “legislative pork,” which depicted a pig eating a bowl of money and simultaneously excreting a pile of droppings that bore names such as “Ed Spendall,” and “Jubeliar.”

“People who come into power sometimes, the power goes to their heads,” Noaker said. “They’re not working for the people anymore.”

Staff writer Rick Fellinger and The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Reach Tom Joyce at 771-2089 or tjoyce@ydr.com.

THE RAISE The pay raises approved at the end of the Legislature’s last session bump the base legislative salary by 16 percent, to $81,050, and give a 34 percent raise to certain legislative leaders.

Area legislators’ votes

Voted yes to raises:

· Sen. Gibson Armstrong, R-Lancaster County

· Rep. Stephen Stetler, D-York

· Rep. Bruce Smith, R-Dillsburg

· Sen. Terry Punt, R-Franklin

Voted no:

· Rep. Ron Miller, R-Jacobus

· Rep. Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township

· Rep. Bev Mackereth, R-Spring Grove

· Rep. Keith Gillespie, R-Hellam Township

· Rep. Steven Nickol, R-Hanover

· Sen. Mike Waugh, R-Shrewsbury Township

· Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin

Source: http://ydr.com/story/politics/86979/

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