Took Him Long Enough
Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel held a news briefing today to try and remove his foot from his mouth a few days after he tried to defend the legislative pay hike that got many Pennsylvania voters riled up enough to toss a bunch of legislators in the recent primary. “I stand here today to acknowledge that I’ve been defending something that the people of Pennsylvania have deemed as indefensible,” he said today. Which, y’know, you think he would have figured out about 30 seconds after the election results came in.
I’m not someone who’s reflexively against higher salaries for lawmakers. I think government work is difficult work that, if done well, benefits everyone, so I have no problem with providing incentives for people to enter the field. But Perzel’s recent attempts to attract sympathy just seem tone deaf. According to the piece I linked to, most PA lawmakers make a hair over $72,000 a year. That isn’t chump change, especially when you consider many lawmakers have enough time to have other business interests. (My former state senator owned a beer distrubitor while in office.) And that’s to say nothing of the expense accounts and per-diem perks that come with office – another Philly-area lawmaker has bought thousands of dollars of books on his expense account.
I guess we shall see if Perzel’s managed to close the books on the issue, or if it will still be festering come Election Day.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.