In the early morning hours of July 7, 2005, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed pay increases for state lawmakers, judges, and top executive-branch officials. The vote took place at 2 am without public review or commentary, and Governor
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician, author, and former prosecutor who served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011. He previously served as chair of the national Democratic Party from 1999 to 2 ...
signed the bill into law. The raise increased legislators' base pay from 16% to 34% depending on position.
Provisions
The pay raise included a provision allowing legislators to take their raises immediately in the form of "unvouchered expenses." This provision was included due to the
Pennsylvania Constitution
The Constitution of Pennsylvania is the supreme law within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. All acts of the General Assembly, the governor, and each governmental agency are subordinate to it. Since 1776, Pennsylvania's Constitution has undergone ...
's clause prohibiting legislators from taking salary increases in the same term as which they are passed. State courts have ruled similar legislation to be constitutional on three separate occasions.
Reaction
Outrage over the pay raise was picked up by several influential state blogs like Grassrootspa and PennPatriot Blog. Advocacy groups spawned several grass-roots movements, some geared toward voting out incumbents and some seeking support for a Constitutional Convention or a reduction in the size of the legislature. The legislature repealed the pay raise after four months by a 50–0 vote in the Senate and 197–1 vote in the House.
Political aftermath
The first victim of the public uproar was Supreme Court Justice
Russell M. Nigro, who became the first
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made offici ...
justice to be denied retention. Nigro asserted that he had not taken part in the pay raise. However, critics noted that Chief Justice
Ralph Cappy helped draft the bill and that prior Court opinions upheld such practices.
On November 16, 2005, Governor Rendell signed a repeal of the pay raise after a near-unanimous vote for repeal; only House Minority Whip
Mike Veon voted against the repeal.
Despite the repeal, a total of 17 legislators were defeated in the 2006 primary elections, including Senate President Pro Tempore
Robert Jubelirer and Senate Majority Leader
David J. Brightbill. They were the first top-ranking Pennsylvania legislative leaders to lose a primary election since 1964.
The
November 2006 general election claimed several more members who supported the pay raise, including Republican representatives
Gene McGill,
Matt Wright,
Tom Gannon and
Matthew Good
Matthew Frederick Robert Good (born June 29, 1971) is a Canadian musician. He was the lead singer and songwriter for the Matthew Good Band, one of the most successful alternative rock bands in Canada during the 1990s and early 2000s. Since the ...
and Democrat Veon. The defeats were widely attributed to anger over the pay raise.
Frank LaGrotta, who was defeated in the 2006 primary election over the pay raise issue, was one of many legislators who were paying back their unvouchered expenses in installments. After pleading guilty to two counts of conflict of interest for hiring relatives as "ghost employees," he stopped repayment and was even refunded the amount that he had previously returned.
Legacy
In November 2009,
Barbara McIlvaine Smith announced that she would not run for re-election in 2010, saying that she was frustrated with the progress of the post-pay raise reform movement. However, she ultimately did run for re-election in 2010 and lost to Republican challenger Dan Truitt.
See also
*
2006 Pennsylvania General Assembly bonus controversy
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...
*
Russ Diamond
*
Eric Epstein
*
Drew Crompton
*
Chris Lilik
Chris Lilik is a political activist from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.
Of Polish, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Ukrainian descent, he attended Villanova University and law school at Duquesne University.
He interned for J.C. Watts. He is editor o ...
*
Gene Stilp
*
List of Pennsylvania state legislatures
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:2005 Pennsylvania General Assembly Pay Raise Controversy
Pennsylvania General Assembly Pay Raise Controversy, 2005
Pennsylvania General Assembly pay raise controversy
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
Pennsylvania General Assembly pay raise controversy