HARRISBURG -- Public relations experts will someday look back at the events following the legislative pay raise and use it as a case study on how not to deal with the news media.
There's no question that putting a positive spin on the pay grab orchestrated by legislative leaders last July would be a challenge for even world-class spin doctors. But Pennsylvania politicos keep digging themselves in deeper and deeper.
Start with the Code of Silence invoked by legislative leaders. Few if any leaders surfaced to defend the pay hike. They were hiding.
In 1983 when salaries were increased, legislative leaders and the governor held a news conference before the vote to take their lumps and get it out of the way.
Then there was the incredible reaction of Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy. He was one of the architects of the pay raise, which also provided hefty salary increases to members of the judiciary and top state officials.
It was Cappy who hatched the idea of tying state salaries to federal officials' salaries. He took part in secret meetings with legislative leaders and Gov. Ed Rendell.
So what did Cappy do⢠Conduct an interview with The Associated Press in which he called opposition to the pay hike "knee-jerk."
Cappy also said of the concept, "I wouldn't be proposing something that I innately think unconstitutional."
The final product was called "unvouchered expenses" so lawmakers could sidestep the state Constitution and take a midterm pay hike.
Cappy sent a commentary to newspapers across the state calling the pay vote by lawmakers "courageous."
It was so out of touch.
House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene County, didn't help further leadership's image when he punished 15 Democrat lawmakers who voted against the pay hike, stripping them from their posts as subcommittee chairmen and vice chairmen. He promoted House members who voted for the pay hike, which will boost their pay.
How about Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna County⢠In an e-mail, he told a Camp Hill man who complained about the pay hike to "get a life." That, of course, really helped the Legislature's public image.
Then House Speaker John Perzel made his first appearance in Harrisburg since the pay hike at something called the Golden Apple Awards Program, recognizing outstanding education programs. Surrounded by reporters eager for a word from the top elected official, Perzel, R-Philadelphia, said, "There's nothing to talk about. It was passed on July 7th."
He continued to dodge questions.
The uncharacteristic behavior of the tough House leader who usually leads with his chin prompted Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Grogan to speculate that a space alien had invaded Perzel's body and taken over the controls.
But the one that would leave PR experts gasping for air was Perzel's speech at the Republican State Committee meeting where he subsequently defended legislators' new base salary of $81,000 by saying migrant cow milkers in Lancaster County make more than $50,000 per year.
The accuracy of that statement was challenged by agriculture experts. But the basic issue was why in the world he would ever base a decision on what state legislators are paid by comparing their salary to those earned by "migrant" milkers.
In Pittsburgh last week, Perzel continued his juke-and-jive routine.
And these guys blame the media for the anti-pay-raise fervor?
