On September 26, 2005 an angry crowd greeted legislators who were returning from their summer hiatus following their July 7, 2:00 am stick up of taxpayers. Parking spots were nameless, petitions organized by Bob Durgin draped the Capitol steps, and lawmakers had to side step rain, “new construction” and a giant pink pig to hide away in their offices.
This year, the legislature will return from their summer vacation, and there will be no crowd, no budget, no outrage.
Simply by doing nothing, a backbench legislator’s minimum wage increased from $69,648 to $85,356 over the last decade. Lawmakers – or more accurately, law breakers – are making $15,708 more than they did prior to the illegal pay heist.
That’s not bad pay for creating a $55 billion pension hole. The last ten “shared sacrifice” budgets allowed legislators to keep their COLAs, free parking privileges, pension increases, perks, slush funds, and subsidized health care.
Still, that’s not enough dough for lawmakers. These full time lawmakers – many of whom have “second jobs” – need per diems to conduct additional research, and attend statewide committee meetings.
The per diem rate was $141 in 2006. The current state reimbursement rate is $159 from September through May. The actual per diem reimbursements can float to $163 in the summer months.
How about the rest of us? Not so good. The median household income for Pennsylvania in 2005 was $53,143 and per capita income was just under $30,000.
The median household income for Pennsylvania in 2013 was $52,007, or a three year change of -1.24%; and the per capita income was $28,647, for a three year increase of 1.66%.
But it’s not just lawmakers who are at the top of the national pay scale pyramid. As soon as the conservative coup was completed in the Senate, Drew Crompton, Senator Scarnatti’s Chief of Staff, salary increased from $164,966 to $174,966. Crompton now makes $40,000 more than President pro tempore. Mr. Scarnatti also gave $10,000 raises to three of his fiscally conservative staffers.
Since Governor Cuomo voluntarily reduced his $179,000 salary by 5% and Governor Wolf has declined a salary of $190,823, Mr. Crompton now makes more than 48 governors.
To be fair, if you measure Governor Wolf’s refusal to accept a salary of $190,823 against the cost of the COLA increases for his administration of $230,346, taxpayers are paying $40,000 more in wages for Governor Wolf’s staff than his predecessor.
Ten years after the pay raise, the legislature remains a palace of gossip and malice, the judiciary has sunk to an all time low, and the Governor’s Mansion has to be more than a political weigh station for campaign rhetoric.
We can do better.
We need less self interest and more common good.
Sincerely,
Eric Epstein, Coordinator
Rock the Capital
lechambon@comcast.net
717-635-8615