PA. State Legislators Due Pay Raise Next Month

An Associated Press report by Peter Jackson featured in the Times Leader highlights the automatic pay raise scheduled for Pennsylvania solons next month.

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top state officials, including legislators and judges, can look forward to a cost-of-living pay raise of 1.7 percent, officials said Monday.

Newly elected and returning legislators will get the increases starting Dec. 1, when the new Legislature opens for business, even though they won’t be sworn in until January.

Rank-and-file legislators’ salaries will increase from $78,315 to $79,623, while salaries for the four legislative floor leaders will rise from $113,468 to $115,364, officials said.

The raises, authorized by a 1995 law, are based on changes in the federal government’s Consumer Price Index for the mid-Atlantic states.

At a time when people are running out of their unemployment benefits and others can't find a job here's the real problem with this pay raise.

During this election cycle a flyer was sent to voters outlining history of the legislative pay raise from 2003 to 2010. In 2003 the salary of Pennsylvania legislators was $59,364.55. Due to a law passed in 1995 the Pennsylvania legislature pegged its yearly scheduled raises to changes in the federal government’s Consumer Price Index for the mid-Atlantic states. As a result the salary for Pennsylvania legislators in 2010 was $78,314.64. However if one were to use the Bureau of Labor and Statistics inflation calculator the legislative salary for 2010 should be $70,563.48 based on the $59,364.55 salary in 2003 using the Consumer Price Index as a benchmark.

Legislators using the CPI for mid-Atlantic States received $7,751.16 or almost 10% more than if the overall CPI for the country was the multiplier. On top of that figure is another $163 dollars per day every day they are in Harrisburg as long as the legislator doesn't live within 50 miles of the Capitol. However those legislators living within 50 miles can still claim the per diem if they attend committee meetings elsewhere in the state.

As many seniors found out the rise in the overall Consumer Price Index is used to calculate their raises for Social Security.

The Pennsylvania legislature only repealed its excessive grab in 2005. The scheduled pay raise due to the CPI calcualtion has remained intact. Maybe its time for the legislature to join the ranks of the senior citizens and feel their pain.

It seems our Congress and our Legislature know how to take care of themselves and not the electorate.

Initial Recommendations Reportedly Made In Luzerne County Juvenile Court Case Review

According to Michael Rubinkam of the Associated Press,(someone who I met personally) Berks County Senior Judge Arthur Grim assigned to review the juvenile court cases in Luzerne County has submitted his recommendations to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The high court appointed Grim last month to review thousands of juvenile cases handled by Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella dating back to 2003.

Grim's preliminary review included cases of low-level offenders who appeared in Ciavarella's courtroom without lawyers. He declined to say what he recommended, but said he believed the first batch of cases numbered in the hundreds.

Grim, who is chairman of the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges' Commission, which establishes standards for the administration of juvenile justice in the state, said he was appalled by the conduct of Ciavarella and Conahan.

"When you work in a system that's generally acknowledged to be among the very best juvenile court systems in the United States, it's particularly upsetting to see a situation where it appears as though the rationale for the juvenile court system has been lost along the way," he said.

"The goal of this court is to determine whether the alleged travesty of juvenile justice occurred, and if it did, to identify the affected juveniles and rectify the situation as fairly and swiftly as possible," the justices said in a statement last month.

Once Again Paul Kanjorski Goes National

How Freddie Mac Splashed Cash to Halt RegulationDec 8 2008- According to internal Freddie Mac documents obtained by the AP, Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spent the evening in hard-to-obtain seats near the Nationals dugout with Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin and four of Freddie Mac's in-house lobbyists. Both were members of the House Financial Services Committee.

AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive By PETE YOST – 7 hours ago- According to internal Freddie Mac documents obtained by the AP, Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spent the evening in hard-to-obtain seats near the Nationals dugout with Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin and four of Freddie Mac's in-house lobbyists. Both were members of the House Financial Services Committee.

Company documents: Kanjorski took gift of lender Sunbury, PA Dec 8 2008-According to confidential company documents obtained by The Associated Press, Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spent the evening in hard-to-obtain seats near the Nationals dugout with Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin and four of Freddie Mac’s in-house lobbyists. Kanjorski declined comment through a spokeswoman.

AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive- Phila. Dec 8, 2008 According to internal Freddie Mac documents obtained by the AP, Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spent the evening in hard-to-obtain seats near the Nationals dugout with Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin and four of Freddie Mac's in-house lobbyists. Both were members of the House Financial Services Committee.

Even Oregon got into the picture. AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive
12/8/2008, 12:43 a.m. PST By PETE YOST The Associated Press- According to internal Freddie Mac documents obtained by the AP, Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spent the evening in hard-to-obtain seats near the Nationals dugout with Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin and four of Freddie Mac's in-house lobbyists. Both were members of the House Financial Services Committee.

From dust thouart to Asheville, N.C. thou shalt return. Miami, Cleveland, I could keep going.

Lets return to two of my previous posts. If you really want to go to the September 23, 2008 post and my September 21, 2008 post. Why is it new to the Associated Press?