Related To Story |
Team 4 Investigates State Lawmakers' Staff Salaries
The following is a transcript of a report by Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons that first aired Nov. 16, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.
Did you know that Pennsylvania's state Legislature costs us $330 million a year?
Did you know that's $100 million more than the cost of New York's Legislature -- even though Pennsylvania has 7 million fewer people?Team 4 investigative reporter Jim Parsons uncovered a major reason costs are so high here. It has to do with the thousands of people on the Legislature payroll, and how much they're paid.
Watch Jim Parsons' Report
In Pennsylvania, state lawmakers allow political leaders to decide how many employees each legislator can hire and how much they get paid. Some of those employees are making more than their elected bosses.Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese is the man who decides how much money other Democrats in the House can spend on staff.Some lawmakers get three or four employees. Others get a lot more."Why is it set up that way?" Parsons asked."It's been subjective since time immemorial, since Benjamin Franklin," DeWeese said.In the next breath, DeWeese claims winds of change are blowing through Harrisburg."Times have changed, as we are seeing. The culture has changed," DeWeese said."Well, why hasn't this changed?" Parsons asked."The question is appropriate," DeWeese said.The answer? DeWeese and his GOP counterparts are studying the issue.Here's some of what Team 4's study turned up.Western Pennsylvania's 50 House members and 15 senators spend more than $16 million on staff salaries. When figured as cost per constituent, that's four times more than what western Pennsylvania's U.S. congressmen and senators spend on staff salaries.The two who spend the most amount of money on staff -- more than $1 million each -- are Sen. Jerry LaValle, of Beaver County, and Rep. Sam Smith, of Punxsutawney."Yeah, those numbers are pretty high," LaValle said."The cost of the Legislature really goes to what people expect legislators to do," Smith said.Smith has more than just voters' expectations on his mind. As the Republican leader of the House, he also has to appease his party's members.Seven of Smith's staffers earn more than his salary of $73,000, and four make more than $100,000 a year.Smith has 13 staffers assigned to him, earning $1.1 million.The Senate clerk's office said LaValle, a Rochester Democrat, has 26 employees assigned to him, earning $1.6 million.LaValle said that he inherited more than half of those workers earlier this year when he took over as chairman of the appropriations committee from Sen. Vince Fumo, who is under federal indictment."Do you need all these people? You need 26 people?" Parsons asked."I'll be honest with you. I don't know if the appropriations staff is the right number, and you would agree, and I'm looking at it. There are some huge salaries on the appropriations staff," LaValle said.There are also some huge disparities in salaries for the same job titles.LaValle has seven employees whose job title is the same -- "constituency relations." But the salaries couldn't be more different, ranging from $24,000 to $71,000 a year.LaValle has four employees whose titles are all "policy development," but the salary range is $97,000 to $153,000."Those folks have 26, 27 years, so just their normal pay increase -- whether it was cost of living or what was allowable in the Senate -- would put them at that point," LaValle said.Cost per constituent amount was calculated by totaling staff salaries and dividing by the number of people residing in that legislative district, according to U.S. Census.In the executive and judicial branches, established pay scales for positions don't allow such a wide range in salaries."Breaking up old boys clubs is the way to go," said Matthew Brouillette, of the Commonwealth Foundation.Pennsylvania should adopt the federal model of giving each lawmaker the same amount of money to pay for staff, Brouillette said."In Pennsylvania, it is very heavily dependent on leadership, and they dole out money according to who toes the line," Brouillette said."Does a member's voting record -- do you factor that in when deciding what size staff they get?" Parsons asked Smith."No," Smith said.Some say it's time to cut the size of Pennsylvania's Legislature, the second largest in the nation."If the Legislature is more manageable, it's easier to hold them accountable," Sen. Allen Kukovich said. "If you can hold them more accountable, then you can say, 'Is this staff really necessary for constituent services, or is this proliferation of staff simply to help incumbents get re-elected?'""I think if you reduce the size of the Legislature, you're going to increase the number of staff," DeWeese said.DeWeese and others argue that shrinking the Legislature will harm services that constituents have come to expect, unless more staff is added.But reform-minded lawmakers like Rep. Mark Mustio say it's time to change the old ways of conducting legislative business."I just think we can use technology, and people can start doing things online, like we're doing with registrations, and getting things done that way, as opposed to using bodies," Mustio said."When we have legislative staff that are able to take up to nine months off to go work on political campaigns, that does beg the question, 'Why do we need so many staff members if they can get by with people only working a third of the year?'" Brouillette said.And in fact, a criminal investigation is trying to determine whether state employees were used illegally on campaigns last year.Just this week, DeWeese fired seven employees on the same day he turned over documents to the attorney general's office.Staff member lists include employees assigned to each lawmaker for district office, caucus and committee assignments.
Related Links:
More County NewsGet RSS Headlines | Free Desktop Alert
Did you know that Pennsylvania's state Legislature costs us $330 million a year?
|
|
Watch Jim Parsons' ReportIn Pennsylvania, state lawmakers allow political leaders to decide how many employees each legislator can hire and how much they get paid. Some of those employees are making more than their elected bosses.Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese is the man who decides how much money other Democrats in the House can spend on staff.Some lawmakers get three or four employees. Others get a lot more."Why is it set up that way?" Parsons asked."It's been subjective since time immemorial, since Benjamin Franklin," DeWeese said.In the next breath, DeWeese claims winds of change are blowing through Harrisburg."Times have changed, as we are seeing. The culture has changed," DeWeese said."Well, why hasn't this changed?" Parsons asked."The question is appropriate," DeWeese said.The answer? DeWeese and his GOP counterparts are studying the issue.Here's some of what Team 4's study turned up.Western Pennsylvania's 50 House members and 15 senators spend more than $16 million on staff salaries. When figured as cost per constituent, that's four times more than what western Pennsylvania's U.S. congressmen and senators spend on staff salaries.The two who spend the most amount of money on staff -- more than $1 million each -- are Sen. Jerry LaValle, of Beaver County, and Rep. Sam Smith, of Punxsutawney."Yeah, those numbers are pretty high," LaValle said."The cost of the Legislature really goes to what people expect legislators to do," Smith said.Smith has more than just voters' expectations on his mind. As the Republican leader of the House, he also has to appease his party's members.Seven of Smith's staffers earn more than his salary of $73,000, and four make more than $100,000 a year.Smith has 13 staffers assigned to him, earning $1.1 million.The Senate clerk's office said LaValle, a Rochester Democrat, has 26 employees assigned to him, earning $1.6 million.LaValle said that he inherited more than half of those workers earlier this year when he took over as chairman of the appropriations committee from Sen. Vince Fumo, who is under federal indictment."Do you need all these people? You need 26 people?" Parsons asked."I'll be honest with you. I don't know if the appropriations staff is the right number, and you would agree, and I'm looking at it. There are some huge salaries on the appropriations staff," LaValle said.There are also some huge disparities in salaries for the same job titles.LaValle has seven employees whose job title is the same -- "constituency relations." But the salaries couldn't be more different, ranging from $24,000 to $71,000 a year.LaValle has four employees whose titles are all "policy development," but the salary range is $97,000 to $153,000."Those folks have 26, 27 years, so just their normal pay increase -- whether it was cost of living or what was allowable in the Senate -- would put them at that point," LaValle said.Cost per constituent amount was calculated by totaling staff salaries and dividing by the number of people residing in that legislative district, according to U.S. Census.In the executive and judicial branches, established pay scales for positions don't allow such a wide range in salaries."Breaking up old boys clubs is the way to go," said Matthew Brouillette, of the Commonwealth Foundation.Pennsylvania should adopt the federal model of giving each lawmaker the same amount of money to pay for staff, Brouillette said."In Pennsylvania, it is very heavily dependent on leadership, and they dole out money according to who toes the line," Brouillette said."Does a member's voting record -- do you factor that in when deciding what size staff they get?" Parsons asked Smith."No," Smith said.Some say it's time to cut the size of Pennsylvania's Legislature, the second largest in the nation."If the Legislature is more manageable, it's easier to hold them accountable," Sen. Allen Kukovich said. "If you can hold them more accountable, then you can say, 'Is this staff really necessary for constituent services, or is this proliferation of staff simply to help incumbents get re-elected?'""I think if you reduce the size of the Legislature, you're going to increase the number of staff," DeWeese said.DeWeese and others argue that shrinking the Legislature will harm services that constituents have come to expect, unless more staff is added.But reform-minded lawmakers like Rep. Mark Mustio say it's time to change the old ways of conducting legislative business."I just think we can use technology, and people can start doing things online, like we're doing with registrations, and getting things done that way, as opposed to using bodies," Mustio said."When we have legislative staff that are able to take up to nine months off to go work on political campaigns, that does beg the question, 'Why do we need so many staff members if they can get by with people only working a third of the year?'" Brouillette said.And in fact, a criminal investigation is trying to determine whether state employees were used illegally on campaigns last year.Just this week, DeWeese fired seven employees on the same day he turned over documents to the attorney general's office.Staff member lists include employees assigned to each lawmaker for district office, caucus and committee assignments.
Related Links:
More County NewsGet RSS Headlines | Free Desktop Alert
Copyright 2007 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
