As this is the sweltering summer of state taxpayers’ discontent, here’s another injustice to add to their ire: travel costs by state employees. Since 2001 staffers from 13 state agencies have attended seminars and other functions at a cost of more than $825,000, reports The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. They stayed at five-star resorts, including Nemacolin Woodlands in Fayette County. Judicial education seminars for the state’s appellate court judges alone cost $224,366 in 2004 and 2005. Says President Judge Joseph Del Sole, “We tend to find if we go in a city, you lose attendees.” Which makes us wonder how much “education” actually is delivered at these seminars. This week about 100 state legislators and their aides will pack their bags for a taxpayer-financed $150,000 junket to Seattle. Estimated return on the “investment”: nil. That’s because the spendthrifts who routinely attend these conferences obviously have yet to put anything they learn into practice. Pennsylvania lags woefully behind most other states in most economic indicators — except for legislators’ pay and perks. Perhaps state lawmakers should lead their own seminar: “Fleecing Constituents For Fun and Profit.” It’s the prevailing mind-set in Harrisburg that anything goes when taxpayers are footing the bill. Is it any wonder taxes have gone up 10 percent and state spending by 18 percent in the past three years?

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