Editorial: Of WAMs and slush

Republican legislators who are demanding more budget cuts from Gov. Rendell should look in a mirror.

Pennsylvania's legislature is the second-largest and second-costliest in the nation, with annual operating expenses of more than $300 million. Legislators have agreed to some in-house cuts already, but their budget pain isn't as deep as in many other state agencies.

If legislators are looking for places to cut the budget, they should also take a whack at WAMs. "Walking-around money" projects are special expenses for legislators' home districts, and they serve as taxpayer-funded protection for incumbents.

WAMs cost taxpayers huge amounts of money. An Associated Press investigation found that the four legislative caucuses requested $110 million in these pet projects in just six months.

Often, these secretive expenses are weighted heavily to the districts of House and Senate leaders. For example, Greene County, home to House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese, ranks 56th out of 67 counties in population. But it received $3 million in WAMs, ranking it first in per-capita dollars and sixth in total grants.

Delaware County, home to Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi and House appropriations minority chair Mario Civera, got more grants than other counties its size.

Philadelphia, home to 35 legislators, including House appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, received about 25 percent of total grants, far more than its share of the population.

Then there's the legislative slush fund.

Although the state lost its legal authority to pay some bills as of Wednesday, legislators' staffs are still being paid. (Legislators themselves won't get paid until a new budget is signed.)

Paying staffers is possible because legislative leaders have amassed a slush fund of more than $250 million to pay for their whims and wants. With the state trying to close a $3.2 billion shortfall and considering a $1.5 billion tax increase, sitting on spare tax dollars is unconscionable.

Leaders of both parties for years have resisted giving back this surplus tax money. They've wasted some of it on frivolities such as political polls, but Republican leaders also planned to keep a stash of cash to use as leverage against Rendell in case of a budget showdown.

Without a budget, state employees face payless paydays by July 14. But Pileggi (R., Delaware) said Republican aides will be paid during the budget impasse. House Democratic staffers expect their last payday would be July 14.

Legislative leaders have agreed in principle to give back some, but not all, of their slush fund. But it's still sitting there at the moment, lessening the urgency to compromise on a budget.