Democracy Rising PA Update
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Democracy Rising PA News
November 27, 2006 tim@democracyrisingpa.com 717-243-8570
$30,000 for this?
It costs us about $30,000 a day – extra – for per diems (on top of salary and catered meals) every day when the legislature’s in session. But, you say, the legislature ended its business last week (see below), and half of them are now in the woods hunting for prey other than our Constitution. So what’s up?
Today was a “non-voting session day” in the House, and the Senate is recessed “to the call of the President Pro Tempore.” Most of our Representatives and Senators will do nothing official, yet any of them who wants it will get yet another per diem at your expense. Today. Tomorrow. Just look at it as a hunting subsidy – for them.
Slots for Sots – Pay Raise Deja Vu
Last Tuesday, minutes before midnight, “gut-and-run” lawmakers proved once again why PA should become the 39th state to prohibit lame-duck sessions of the legislature. These are sessions that occur after the election but before the newly elected legislature takes office in January.
As they did with the original gambling law in 2004 and the pay raise in 2005, the General Assembly violated the Constitution they swore to obey by gutting a two-line bill, inserting 26 pages of completely new language, and running it to a vote. They did this:
· within days of a major holiday,
· without public hearings,
· without public debate,
· without lawmakers themselves knowing what was in it, and
· without citizens and businesses affected by it having a chance to express their opinions.
This time, “gut-and-run” lawmakers decided to let slots parlors provide unlimited free alcohol to slots players. Those who live near slots parlors, those who work in or near slots parlors, and those restaurants and taverns who will have to compete with slots parlors, and those who treat alcoholics and advocate on their behalf were denied the opportunity to express their opinions about the actual proposal that they will have to pay for and live with.
The Lame-Duck Factor
How important were the 55 lame-duck lawmakers whom voters never again can hold accountable for their actions? Important enough that without their votes, this couldn’t have happened. In the Senate, only one lame duck voted for it, Majority Leader “Chip” Brightbill, R-Lebanon. But in the House, 32 lame ducks voted for it. Without their votes, the bill would have received only 80 of the 102 votes needed for passage. But no one should have been voting on anything in the first place.
The Hypocrisy Index
Last summer, 53 House members signed onto an agenda to “restore faith in Pennsylvania government.” Led by Rep. Kathy Manderino, D-Philadelphia, and Rep. David Steil, R-Bucks, the group proposed to stop gut-and-run practices. One of their proposed reforms would require a two-thirds vote to pass legislation in lame-duck session. Another would require a “minimum 24-hour notice” before the House could approve amendments made in the Senate. It’s not clear whether last Tuesday’s vote, which approved amendments made in the Senate, got even 24 minutes notice.
What is clear is that 23 of the 53 so-called reformers, including Manderino, failed to walk the walk. They could have stopped this latest violation of the Constitution, but instead they voted for it. They are:
Stephen Barrar, R-Delaware
Paul Costa, D-Allegheny
Peter Daley, D-Fayette
Frank Dermody, D-Allegheny
Florindo Fabrizio, D-Erie
Neal Goodman, D-Schuylkill
Richard Grucella, D-Northampton
Michael Hanna, D-Clinton
Ted Harhai, D-Westmoreland
Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia
Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery
David Levdansky, D-Allegheny
Kathy Manderino, D-Philadelphia
Michael McGeehan, D-Philadelphia
Anthony Melio, D-Bucks
Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne
Bernard O’Neill, R-Bucks
John Pallone, D-Westmoreland
Scott Petri, R-Bucks
Jess Stairs, R-Westmoreland
Curtis Thomas, D-Philadelphia
Thomas Tigue, D-Luzerne
John Yudichak, D-Cambria
It’s hard not to notice that 20 of the 24 on the Hypocrisy Index are Democrats.
Lame (-Duck) Excuse of the Day
Speaking of hypocrisy, Sen. Sean Logan, D-Allegheny, gets the lame-duck excuse award for claiming in the Nov. 23 Post-Gazette that lawmakers “have been talking about the free drink issue ever since Act 71 [the slots gambling law] became law over two years ago. There was plenty of discussion.”
Quack!
· The Constitution only allows lawmakers to consider actual bills, not hallway gossip, dinner conversation with lobbyists, news releases, newspaper articles or campaign brochures. Talk is cheap; laws are expensive. That’s why there’s a difference.
· If this was such a good idea and had such a long history, why didn’t lawmakers “discuss” the specific proposal – the actual language of the proposed law – with their constituents in the light of day at any time during the past two years? This was yet another sneak attack upon citizens and their communities, nothing more.
One Who Gets It
Sen. Patricia Vance, R-Cumberland, gets it. She told the Harrisburg Patriot that the gut-and-run procedure is “abominable.” “If one wants to rehabilitate the image of the Legislature, that’s a very poor way to do it,” Vance said.
About a year from now, Logan will begin campaigning for re-election in 2008. Between now and then, he’ll be raising campaign money from special interests so that he can tell his constituents how much he listens to them. Is Logan really listening to his constituents? Or to Sen. Vance?
One Who Should Get It
Gov. Ed Rendell also swore to obey the Constitution. He can and should honor his oath by vetoing this “abomination” and inviting lawmakers to try again – this time adhering to the Constitution – when the new session begins in January.