Out of Touch: PA Supreme Court

I'm amazed at how out of touch the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has become. Oblivious to obvious ethical issues about their reviewing the legality of their own pay raises, these Justices ruled they can keep them. The decision was worthy of a schizophenic. While declaring the raises the legislature awarded themselves unconstitutional and an illegal pay grab they decided their own were alright.

These Judges are oblivious to the voter anger and discontent over the issue even after they ousted one of the Justices because of the issue. How clueless and out of it can you get? Perhaps they should get an opinion from Russell Nigro, the victim of that voter backlash. Everyone knows the Judges were the primary force behind the pay raise scandal. They wanted raises and went to the Republican leadership in Harrisburg. Ralph Cappy even wrote a statewide oped piece trying to justify their exorbitant raises while workers' wages in the state remained fixed where they'd been for years.

It was refreshing to see the Court decide the legislative raises were unconstitutional though they failed to take the obvious next step and demand the money be returned to the treasury.

This whole issue has been muted somewhat since the primary election bloodbath. Media attention has been mitigated by other issues and coverage. This court decision puts it back front and center during the peak campaign season. That's bad for the few remaining incumbents who voted for the bill.

We'll see if voters remain angry about the bill and if the media continues reminding them. If so in January all those newly reelected incumbents who voted yea on July 7, 2005 can have a caucus meeting in the capitol's men's room. First stall on the right. It'll be a meeting of one. Maybe.