More Philly Pol Perks
Anytime there's news about perks for state lawmakers you can be sure Philly members will be represented.
More Philly Pol Perks
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
Here we go again.
Another look at unnecessary taxpayer-funded perks for our state lawmakers leads to uncovering more unncessary spending by Philadelphia lawmakers.
Usually, such reporting tags Philly Democratic Rep. Mark Cohen, long a perk king specializing in collecting per diems, expenses of about $160 a-day for which no receipts are required.
But a new report on lawmakers' perks tags Philly Democratic Sen. Mick Stack, who says he wants to run for governor, and Philly Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans, who's currently in the news for a probe of spending by a non-profit group he founded.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Monday that taxpayers could save at least $8 million a-year if the nation's largest full-time Legislature was reduced in size.
The savings would come from salaries, benefits, travel and lodging. We now pay $34 million in salaries and benefits, and $7 million in travel costs and per diem expenses, the newspaper says.
Republican House Speaker Sam Smith again has a bill to reduce the size of the House 20 percent, from 203 members to 153.
Here's an excerpt from The Tribune's reporting:
"Pennsylvania pays its legislators a base salary of $83,802 and guarantees perks such as pensions averaging $31,314 and comprehensive health care coverage costing them 1 percent of wages. They get state-paid cars if they choose, and about $160 per day for food and lodging...Taxpayers paid more than $3 million for lawmakers' vehicles, fuel and mileage reimbursement last session, records show."
And Stack and Evans?
Stack drew notice for $600 spent on "car washes." The newspaper said neither he nor his staff responded to requests for comment.
And Evans gets attention for driving the highest-priced state-leased vehicle: $644 a-month for a 2009 Mercury Mariner hybrid. He told the newspaper the state Department of General Services "sets up the lease...and sets the price."
Maybe he can have Stack wash it for him. Or maybe he could drive something costing a little less.
Then again, without such unnecessary spending Philly could risk losing its rep for abusing taxpayer-funded perks.
And I, for one, have full confidence that rep is not in danger.
$644 a month lease for a Mariner? Another tax payer ripoff.— MilesLong1- are you kidding me? phila govt. is a JOKE, $600 for car washes?— main liner
- Connect the dots on this one...... a hybrid Mariner should not use a lot of gasoline, so how much of his expenses were for gas. He is probably filling up his personal or family vehicles on the state credit card. Easy to check, just check the odometer and compare to the gas credit card slips.— TheGuyfromPhilly
- OPM is easy to spend on whatever you want so long as nobody cares and nobody is watching.— Tkat
- Since the legislator make the rules and most voters are too dumb to do research before they vote, it will be politics as usual!— Not1ofYouPeople
- Time to take pitchforks to Harrisburg and City Hall and burn the suckers out.— Themonkofmagdalena
- Cutting the size of the legislature is just going to mean larger legislative districts at the expense of voter accessibility to their legislators. The solution is to cut these "perks" and cut them drastically, not cut the legislature's size.— CurrerBell
- Do you mean to say that the lawmakers are going to vote to cut 20% of their jobs. And then we woke up!!!!!!!— BOBMATT
- Teachers and firefighters get ripped off, while the connected get all the money! Thank you very much Mr. Nutty!
Blondie for MAYOR!— ricciaje - It is really a shame to see that there is no sense of public service in Philadelphia or anywhere in the state legislature. What is even worse is that Philadelphia voters will refuse to hold these crooks responsible.— jfar86
- The cesspool deepens.— tonyS
- Do the building trade unions run any car washes. That would explain $600. Probably gets you 3 washes.
Then some goon comes and throws dirt on your car the next day.— samac - I am in no way defending the excess of the legislature, but the vitriol and energy with which you criticize the legislature could surely be better spent elsewhere, Mr. Baer. $8 million in saving in a budget that's $28 is a mere grain of sand in the ocean and your constant nit-picking puts us no closer to the ideal form of the good that you so vigorously seek. As in many governmental institutions there are bound to be excesses and inefficiencies, but hamstringing the very body most representative and responsive to the larger body politic gets us nowhere either. Perhaps I'm being too conceptual in my thinking, but I just think that your energies could be spent more efficiently elsewhere.— P4illi3s
- WHY does Philly.com have the like and dislike and it's never been activated? What's the point. But the Respond does work.— thepaguy
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
