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Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Four year anniversary of the payraise

This just in from our intrepid intern, Lauren Boyer:

Four years ago today, while the rest of the state slept, the legislature voted themselves a pay raise.

Representatives from advocacy organizations like RockTheCapital.org and Democracy Rising joined activist Gene Stilp in the rotunda earlier this morning to commemorate the anniversary. In total, 53 of 131 House members and eight of 27 senators kept the raise - deemed "unvouchered expenses" - which was ordered unconstitutional by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

"The last four years have gone from bad to worse, and the end is no where in sight," said Stilp, flanked from behind by his infamous inflatable pink pig. "You could have received a college diploma in the time we've spent fighting the pay raise. Maybe we'll go for a master's."

The pig was joined by three porcelain snails, to symbolize the "snail's pace of reform" in Pennsylvania, Stilp said.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Posted by Lauren Boyer @ 12:22 PM  Permalink | Post a comment
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About Commonwealth Confidential
Commonwealth Confidential gives you regularly updated coverage of the state legislature, the governor and the workings of the state bureaucracy. It is written by the political reporters in the Inquirer's Harrisburg bureau, based right in the statehouse.

Mario F. Cattabiani (left) has covered state government and politics from Harrisburg since 1994, the last six years for the Inquirer. In July, he was ranked by PolitickerPa.com as No. 1 among the "Most Powerful Political Reporters" in Pennsylvania.

Angela Couloumbis (center) joined The Philadelphia Inquirer in 1998, and has covered government and politics in New Jersey, Philadelphia and throughout Pennsylvania, including Gov. Rendell’s 2006 race against former Pittsburgh Steeler Lynn Swann.

Amy Worden (right) joined the Inquirer in 2000 and has covered governors, gubernatorial races, U.S. Senate races and three presidential campaigns. When not covering politics she can be found filing dispatches from disaster scenes or digging into local stories of national import.
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