Sep 19, 2006 3 min read

Now that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declared that “unvouchered expenses” are unconstitutional, all legislators who took that money should be forced to return it – and the pension boost they got from the ill-gotten gains should be rescinded. If legislation is needed, any of them could order up the appropriate bill by making a brief telephone call to the Legislative Reference Bureau. Thirty-eight lawmakers up for re-election in November kept the money, while another 21 who are retiring either kept it or donated it to charity. All of them will see a boost in their annual pensions, either now or later. The list includes 30-year state Rep. H. William DeWeese (D-Waynesburg), whose pension swelled by $3,386 per year (to an incredible $93,799 if he retires or loses re-election this year), for taking $11,287 in unvouchered money.

Others who participated in this version of the “Great Train Robbery” include retiring state Rep. Larry Roberts (D-South Union), whose state pension rose $721 per year to $29,842 because he took $5,152 in unvouchered money; and retiring state Rep. James Shaner (D-Dunbar), whose state pension went up $456 per year to $25,417 for taking $3,801 in unvouchered money. State Rep. Peter J. Daley (D-California) also took the unvouchered expenses, and the added result to his pension should be in the Roberts-Shaner ball park.

Since the Supreme Court has ruled the practice illegal, how in good conscience can any of the aforementioned elected officials – or any of their peers across the Commonwealth – not think the time has come to repay the money and retract any added pension boost? Instead of rushing to cover their political rear ends by “donating” the now-illegal pay raise to school districts (DeWeese), charities and churches (Shaner) or meals for senior citizens (Daley), all representatives should have done the right thing in the first place and returned the money. And they should have introduced and worked to enact legislation to ensure that no one in the state House or Senate walked away with a pension bonanza from such a screwball concoction as “unvouchered expenses.”

Instead, in February we had Roberts saying , “I think the pay raise has been blown completely out of proportion,” Shaner claiming that he had no immediate financial benefit and DeWeese’s spokesman saying the House Minority Leader had actually performed a “charitable act … because he didn’t keep the money himself.”

They were wrong then, and if they don’t finally do something to make the taxpayer whole, they’re wrong now.