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Turn in the keys: State Senate eliminates $600 car lease perk

3 min read

Because of bold action taken by the Pennsylvania state Senate, which is abolishing the perquisite, state Sen. Barry Stout, D-Bentleyville, will soon kiss his 2005 Cadillac goodbye. Taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for the $599-a-month lease that Stout, one of only 10 senators to take advantage of the perk, stuffed in their pocket with regular aplomb. The state Senate’s Committee on Management Operations, comprised of five Republicans and four Democrats, also decided that all 50 senators, plus their employees, should start paying 1 percent of their salaries toward health insurance premiums. That move affects 1,000 people, who heretofore have had top-shelf insurance coverage completely paid for by you.

Such moves prove that at least one branch of state government is feeling the heat from a public that still hasn’t forgotten last July’s pay raise, and thus is demanding continued reforms from Harrisburg. And that can’t be good news for the 203 members of the state House, who, like it or not, are going to have to match the Senate rollbacks stride-for-stride, lest they stir up the beehive of voter discontent even more.

Among our delegation, state Rep. Peter J. Daley II, D-California, is very likely going to have to turn in the keys to his 2006 Ford Escape, which costs you $442 per month. State Rep. Jess Stairs, R-Acme, will hopefully end up doing the same with his 2005 Mercury Mountaineer, for which you pay the full $650 per month that House rules allow. And we sincerely wish that State Rep. Ted Harhai, D-Monessen, will have to ditch his $346-per-month Chevrolet Tahoe as well.

Unless state House incumbents who survived the primary election want to commit political hara-kari, they will follow the Senate’s lead. But the state House has proven time and again that it can be obstinate, and we can only hope that it will refuse to succumb to this current pressure, so it’s easier to boot more of them out of office this fall.

The senators won’t be without travel options. They can still get a vehicle from the more reasonably priced state car fleet, for a mere $300 a month, or they can use their own vehicle and submit for mileage reimbursement, like 30 senators and House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese currently do.

In the 203-member House, only 31 members use the current lease allowance, which at $650 a month is excessive and unneeded. It should have been abolished long ago.

Make no mistake: You and your collective ire are making a difference in how things are done in Harrisburg. Legislapway around. Congratulations, and keep up the good work.

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