Pennsylvania Supreme Court- Out To Touch With Reality

The American Bar Association printed an article penned by Debra Cassens Weiss about the perks Chief Justice Ronald Castille receives while occupying his office.

Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald Castille drives a 2010 Cadillac, but he's not paying the lease costs. He has attended dinners, golf outings and a social meeting at a luxury hotel, but he's not picking up the tab.

The state pays for the Cadillac lease, a perk provided to state appeals judges, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. Twenty-five judges lease taxpayer-financed cars, including Justice Max Baer of Mt. Lebanon. Baer drives a 2010 GMC Acadia he leases at government cost from his brother's Washington dealership, the story says. Thirteen judges don’t participate in the program.

Meanwhile some of Castille’s dinners and outings are paid for by lawyers and business people, including some with cases before the court, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported earlier this month. Last December, he attended a meeting of the Pennsylvania Society, a state booster club, at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria. The law firm Saul Ewing paid the $1,900 tab for the hotel room and dinners, just as it had done the previous two years. Since 2007 the firm was involved in around 20 cases before the state Supreme Court.

A New York Times editorial criticizes the state ethics rules that allow Castille and other appeals judges to accept gifts as long as they disclose them. The state supreme court has ruled that it alone has the authority to set the ethics rules; almost no other state has rules that would allow the gifts.

Similarly, the state auditor general can’t audit the judiciary budget. “Appellate judges spend what they want, with little accountability,” the Tribune-Review says, quoting the opinion of Duquesne University law professor Bruce Ledewitz.

Castille said in a May interview that he accepts rounds of golf as gifts from friends at golf courses he could never afford, but did not give the Inquirer an interview for its November story. Saul Ewing lawyer Timothy Carson told the Inquirer the firm financed Castille’s New York trip because the justice should have a chance to interact with other state leaders.

Leo Strupczewski of the Legal Intelligencer writes this article about the precipitous drop in work output by Pennsylvania's highest tribunal

The state Supreme Court had one of its least productive years in recent memory in 2010, issuing far fewer opinions and hearing fewer cases than it had in the last decade.

Normally one to hear about 100 cases and issue authored opinions in another 150, the high court fell short of both traditional performance marks in 2010.

And it didn't come very close, either.

According to a review by The Legal , the justices authored just 67 published opinions in 2010 — a figure that represents a nearly 50 percent reduction in output over the year before. Similarly, the court scheduled just 79 cases for oral arguments last year — less than the 90 it scheduled in 2009 and the 125 it scheduled in 2008.

Though several individuals The Legal spoke with said it's better for the court to take its time when deciding confusing and complicated areas of law, 2010's low figures don't appear to be a result of the court becoming more judicious over what cases it takes or the court becoming more efficient in its work.

The justices, for example, granted allocatur in 497 cases from 2006 through 2010. And at the end of 2009, according to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, there were 280 "pending appeals" before the court.

Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille did not respond to an interview request for this story. Jim Koval, a spokesman for the judiciary, said at the time of that request that Castille would want to see the court's statistics before discussing workload.

Hank Grezlak of the Legal Intellingencer authored a great editorial, Pa. High Court Needs to Cure Its Black Robe Disease, about the Supreme Court which can be found here.

One wonders how the mess in the Luzerne County Courthouse started. Well, from reading these articles it appears it may have started with the lack of accountability at the top. Castille said he accepted the rounds of golf he could never afford. Castille's salary, not including benefits and pension contributions paid for by you and me, last year was $191,876.00. I guess that is a measely salary to be able to afford a $200.00 round of golf.

Oh, did I mention that he gets pensions from his service in the Marines as well as his stint with the Philadelphia District Attorney's office. Poor, poor, Ron.

Tara Toohil Reaches Milestone In Her Campaign

Tara Toohil issued this press release


TOOHIL REACHED BENCHMARK 2,500 Doors

Hazleton, PA- Candidate for State Representative, Tarah Toohil has knocked on over 2,500 doors and plans to reach another 7,500 households before the General Election on November 2nd, 2010. Toohil is running a grassroots campaign that consists of visiting constituents at their homes in order to communicate her message. Toohil is concerned with bringing more jobs to the area, reducing property taxes, and working to better our schools.

"Voters have been very receptive and are ready for new representation down in Harrisburg. People in our community are hoping to put a fresh face into office because they are fed up with politics as usual," stated Toohil.
People also want to talk about the corruption in the legislature. People want to know why the local media isn't reporting more on these issues.

Toohil's response is that she "will work to eliminate unethical practices and restore honesty and transparency in government."

Ethics Reform Due To Greed

Legislative resistance to reforming Pennsylania's government is a miscalculated and misguided effort by those in office who think voter apathy will relegate this issue to the trash bin that states "This too shall pass". Their lack of fear of the voting booth signifies a culture where their concerns for what is truly right and what Pennsylvania taxpayers demand is emotionally bankrupt. They will soon reazlie that it will only hurt worse to fight it.

Legislators who make a base salary of $78,000 per year, fully paid healthcare, pensions that exceed their outgoing salaries, car expense, telephone expense, campaign expense, guaranteed cost of living adjustments, and the ability to modify any one of those in the most favorable terms are severely out of touch with today's economic climate. House Majority Leader Todd Eachus has a salary exceeding $114,900.00 plus collected over $27,000 in per diems. Those of you reading this, what are your salary and benefits?

Solons like Senator Daylin Leach who have the nerve to write an opinion column like this one that appeared in the Post-Gazette illustrate not only the need but that time is of the essence to reprogram the thought processes in Harrisburg by elected officials. Leach is a Democrat for King of Prussis but talks to us like he is the King of Russia.

In today's Time Leader Professor David Friedrichs discusses the greed with Mark Guydish that led the charge in creating the culture pervading Luzerne County and, for the most part, the rest of Pennsylvania.

Tough prison terms? Restructured governments? Strict codes of conduct? Ethics education in school and more public discussion, as championed the new Ethics Awareness Initiative?

“Addressing it is indeed challenging,” University of Scranton criminal justice Professor David Friedrichs conceded. “With this new wave of indictments and imprisonment of high-profile judges and officials, there is hope that it will have fundamental impact in terms of individual choices.

“But more generally,” he added, “you have to try to reorient the whole culture to address the built-in conflicts of interests in public/private sector arrangements.”

“Unless the whole region becomes convinced that ethical behavior is critically important to the area, it’s not going to change.”

Senator Leach has already demonstrated the uphill battle taxpayers face.

In a related article the Times Leader educates is readers about the efforts of Sister Bernadette Duross as executive director of the Ethics Institute of Northeastern Pennsylvania and launching a communitywide ethics project amid the bucolic backdrop of Misericordia University

In May, barely five months into that role, she helped spearhead the Ethics Awareness Initiative, a joint effort by the Ethics Institute and Leadership Wilkes-Barre. The project is intended to spur area residents to push for government reforms – and perhaps adopt new attitudes about ethical behavior – in the wake of the region’s ongoing public corruption crackdown.

“We need individuals to step up and get the public and organizations on board,” she said. At Misericordia, she hopes that means a campuswide initiative to “incorporate ethics training more into the curriculum.” She’s also hoping other area colleges, as well as elementary and high schools, will do the same..

How about local legislators? How many have signed an ethics pledge? Ask your legislator to join Sister Duross in her effort to restore confidence and trust in Pennsylvania government- Phyllis Mundy, Eddie "Day" Pashinski, Todd Eachus, Karen Boback, Neal Goodman, Jerry Knowles, Kevin Murphy, James Wansacz, Edward Staback. The Northeastern delegation should lead the charge.

Legislators Rack Up $532,000 In Per Diem Bonuses While Failing To Pass A Budget

Here is the latest legal scam of taxpayer money. Brad Bumsted at the Pittsuburgh Tribune-Reivew highlights the per diems paid to state legislators as they continue to fail in their duties to pass a state budget.

During July and August, the first two months of the state's budget impasse, lawmakers in the House and Senate collected $532,585 in per diems for food and lodging payments, records show.

Records filed with the House comptroller and Senate chief clerk show 107 Democrats and 74 Republicans collected per diems in July and August. The $158 daily allowance — a flat payment for which legislators don't need receipts — is part of the cost to taxpayers for the unresolved budget that was due July 1.

The taxpayers' costs for per diems would not be incurred if a budget was completed by June 30, as required by law. In the past, the Legislature recessed for 2 1/2 months, starting on or about July 1. They have approved budgets late for the seven years under Gov. Ed Rendell, resulting in some July per diems. But the costs during this budget impasse are the highest since at least the 1970s.

The payments to legislators during the budget impasse "make me sick," said Judy Kandel, 67, a Canonsburg retiree.

"I think since they are getting their pay, they don't give a hoot. They're looking out for themselves, not the people," she said.
The House records cover per diems submitted as of Sept. 8; the Senate records, through Aug. 31. Not all legislators claimed their per diems for the two-month period.

But based on available records, Democratic Reps. John Galloway of Bucks County and Ron Waters of Philadelphia collected the most — $7,426 for 47 per diems.

Galloway claimed 30 per diems for days when the House was not in session.

"I thought it was important to be in Harrisburg while this was going on," Galloway said. "I got a lot of questions from people, 'Why aren't you in Harrisburg working on the budget?' "

Waters did not return phone calls or e-mails seeking comment.

The top 3 in the House stack up this way:
Waters, Ron D Philadelphia $7,426
Galloway, John D Bucks $7,426
Eachus, Todd D Luzerne $7,010

As opposed to the bottom three:
Sturla, Mike D Lancaster $720
Pallone, John D New Kensington $474
Saylor, Stan R York $109

Here's a link to SOP's column about collecting per diems while generating significant catering bills. Lobbyists take legislators out to dinner while they are collecting per diems. State employees for the Attorney General must provide receipts to collect their per diem. Legislators are not under the same requirements.

Speaking of questionable ethics. Here is a link to the House Ethics Committee. Click around, they do NOTHING.