I deserve a raise!

Yes, the PA legislature voted themselves their pay raise of 16-30% (in addition to allowing for it in the budget; I thought they were combined but apparently there's a separate bill involved).

Without a word of debate, in the wee hours of the morning yesterday, state legislators voted themselves a double-digit pay increase before hurriedly leaving the Capitol for their 10-week summer recess.

"We deserve it," Rep. Frank Oliver (D., Phila.) said as he walked out the House chamber at 2 a.m. moments after the body voted, 119-79, for the raise. "See what time we are getting out right now. We work long hours sometimes."

It's easy to do work like this!
The article includes the full roll-call of both House and Senate (27-23 approval), broken down by county, so that constituents know whom to hold accountable.

In related coverage, John Grogan lambasts this move, joining his charge of "travesty" to Baer's "obscenity" from yesterday.

In this economy, with wages flat across the board, can anyone justify such a large jump, especially for a group that seems to spend so much of its energy on fatuous self-promotion? Perhaps that is why the raise was voted in at 2 a.m.

Indeed...

Updates: Here's some more grousing from the Pittsburgh end of the state, and claims by some in Harrisburg that they won't claim the additional pay. (via Edico)