An Early Christmas Gift For All of Us: Brooks and Robbins are both thumbs-up for Legislative Pay Raise “Give Back”

Written by Roberta Biros (a.k.a. “Roberta in Mercer”)

I published a post yesterday that provided details regarding the status of the Legislative Pay Raise “Give Back”.

Here is a link to the full post:

Michele Brooks Gives Back Legislative Pay Raise, but Can More Be Done To Really Save Money in Harrisburg?

While it was clear from the start that Michele Brooks was giving her raise back . . . and Mark Longietti and Dick Stevenson are holding their “Give Back” as a bargaining chip for bigger and better negotiations . . . the Sharon Herald left us all with an empty space in our hearts when it came to State Senator Bob Robbins. As I stated in my blog post, my quick research of other Pennsylvania and National newspapers found that Bob Robbins had, in fact, vowed to give back his pay raise too.

For anyone that cares, the Sharon Herald has now gotten on board with the facts too. It seems that the “news” finally made its way to the “newsroom”, and the Sharon Herald announced last night (December 12th) that Bob Robbins is on-board with the “give back” along with State Representative Michele Brooks.

Click here for the whole story:
http://www.sharon-herald.com/local/local_story_347184930.html

I admit that my first impression was that Bob Robbins was laying low and avoiding any discussion of the issue. His history regarding “pay raises” is a sore spot that I figured he wanted to stay away from. Unfortunately, my first assumptions were wrong. More unfortunate, however, is that the statement regarding Bob Robbins willingness to give back his raise was available as early as December 3rd (5 days before the original Sharon Herald story).

This just goes to show us all that you can’t take “what you read” at face value. I vow to do extra leg work on this blog to seek the “real story”, and I plan on willingly supplementing the content of the Sharon Herald through their Forum when possible.

With all of that said, I’d like to thank Bob Robbins for his promise to give back his legislative raise. I think it is very important that the Republican Leadership in Harrisburg take a bold stand on this issue, and the “give back promise” is a great first step. I still stand firm on my opinion that Republican lawmakers need to take the issue a step further. The COLAs need to be put on hold or eliminated as a part of the first business of the legislature in January (as is being suggested by Rep. Barbara McIlvaine Smith, D-Chester and Auditor General Jack Wagner). This would be proof to the tax payers that our elected officials really do “mean business”, but it doesn’t simply end there either. Take the belt tightening further and make active attempts to cut spending anywhere possible. Most important, do so without a consideration of “what you’ll get out of it”. Take your personal fulfillment from knowing that you’ve served the people of this area honorably by taking their best interests into consideration. If you do this, you will inevitably be rewarded with hoards of loyal voters.

In closing, I’d like to leave you all with a reminder of the meaning of honor (a quote received from a friend just this morning):

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount of “up to and including my life.” That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.”

So, when you think about it, is the idea of writing a check back to the State of Pennsylvania for a pay raise so much to ask?

BLOG POST ADDENDUM:

For the record, the Sharon Herald announced last night (12/14 at 9:17pm) that all four legislators (Robbins, Stevenson, Longietti, and Brooks) have agreed to “give back” their pay raises in one way or another. Robbins and Brooks will supposedly pay back their raises directly to the State; Longietti will donate his raise to a local charity; and Stevenson is still undecided.

As I stated in the Herald Forum this morning, I have sent personal Thank You notes/Christmas Greetings to all four. We are often quick to criticize, but too few of us are willing to thank legislators for doing the right thing.
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