Nov 16, 2005 3 min read

Renowned for his flowery prose and quick ability to turn a catchy phrase, House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese has shown at least some shard of public accountability by finally reversing field and voting to repeal the controversial state pay raise. But the long-time Waynesburg Democrat, arguably the most influential member of our area delegation, stretches the limits of appropriate analogy by attempting to justify his prior “no” vote on the measure. DeWeese and his right-hand man, Minority Whip Mike Veon of Beaver County, were the only two members of the entire Legislature – 203 in the House and 50 in the Senate – to cast what DeWeese has termed “symbolic” no votes on the prior repeal bill.

“We knew that the proverbial Niagara Falls of ‘yes’ votes was going to cascade and overwhelm us,” said DeWeese on Monday, displaying one analogy that seems to fit the situation. He then strayed off course by adding, “But in that process I think (Veon) and I felt like we were union leaders … I thought and still believe a symbolic protest vote was appropriate.”

DeWeese feeling kinship with a labor leader over any pay raise vote is a lot like Andrew Carnegie saying he felt compelled to lead a steelworkers’ union membership drive. The esteemed and erudite leader of House Democrats is, for all practical purposes, “management” in title and actions.

First, he essentially lords over his caucus, unilaterally deciding committee assignments and controlling the purse strings on a multi-million-dollar special leadership account. Sure, House Democrats elect him to that leadership post. But on their behalf, he wields top-down power to broker deals such as the pay raise behind closed doors, sealing them by shaking hands with his Republican “management” counterparts. At mimimum, he’s the Democrats’ plant manager and the other Dems are his assembly line workers.

Second, in a larger sense the entire Legislature can and should be viewed as “management,” with the real rank-and-file being the taxpayers and citizens of Pennsylvania. They pass laws that are binding on the rest of us, they take and spend our tax money, they set policy and priorities the rest of us have to live by. We are the real workers, the real proletariat. They are the real management, the real elites.

Had this not been the true line of demarcation, the pay raise never would have been passed into law in the first place. Can you envision AFL-CIO titan George Meany or UMW legend John L. Lewis, true union leaders, foisting such a deal on their membership, particularly if it happened to include a 34 percent pay raise for themselves?

We can’t envision any union leader worth his salt standing first in line to get a salary increase. Nor can we see them holding onto money that should rightfully be returned to the state Treasury. Yet DeWeese is apparently planning to keep the several thousand dollars he collected in unvouchered expenses over the past four months, when his annual rate of pay jumped from $100,911 to $134,771.

Give back the money, Bill. It’s what any reputable union leader would do. Even if you don’t feel that way, do it as a “symbolic” gesture.