49 legislators plan West Coast trip
National conference offers break from state budget work
Friday, July 18, 2003
BY JAN MURPHY and PETER L. DeCOURSEY
Of The Patriot-News
The finishing touches have yet to be put on the state budget, but about four
dozen House members have decided work at home can wait.
Forty-nine Pennsylvania legislators, at last count, will catch a plane for
San Francisco next week to attend the National Conference of State
Legislatures annual meeting. Joining them will be 48 legislative staffers,
including some who will be making presentations at the conference.
House and Senate officials say the number making the trip changes by the day
as a result of the unfinished budget work.
"Some have canceled," said House Democratic Leader H. William DeWeese's
spokeswoman Barb Grill.
While staffers negotiate, DeWeese and House Speaker John Perzel,
R-Philadelphia, are among those who are westward bound.
They will return early if necessary, but DeWeese said, "we are not likely to
do anything significant in terms of a budget vote for another 10 to 15 days.
We'll be back Friday, and if staff makes real progress before then, we'll be
back before then."
DeWeese said lawmakers benefit from the exchange of ideas at the conference.
Perzel bristled when asked about the trip, and said, "why should I tell them
not to go? They're on a six-hour call. If we need to come back, we'll come
back."
Senate Minority Leader Robert Mellow, D-Lackawanna, feels differently.
"I think it would be inappropriate for any member to attend NCSL when we're
in the position we're in without having met the fiscal needs of the
commonwealth," he said. Mellow has canceled his reservations and persuaded
his caucus members, who were planning to go, to do the same.
This year's conference, called "Connecting America," runs Monday through
Friday. It features sessions on education, sales taxes, terrorism, election
reform, health care and the economic outlook, among other topics. It is
expected to draw about 5,000 people, said Nicole Moore, NCSL media and
policy specialist.
From the midstate, the only House members going are Rep. Mark McNaughton,
R-Susquehanna, and Rep. Stanley Saylor, R-Red Lion. The only senator
attending is Sen. Jake Corman., R-Centre, who represents part of Perry
County.
Corman is speaking at the conference at a session on Internet privacy
issues. Since no votes are expected next week, Senate President Pro Tem
Robert C. Jubelirer, R-Blair, urged Corman to attend the conference, to
represent the Senate.
Attendance at the conference can pay back in spades for states, organizers
claimed. "Our annual meeting is where state leaders vote on the resolutions
that guide our federal lobbying efforts -- efforts that this year gave rise
to $20 billion in fiscal help for states," Moore said, even though members
of Congress, U.S. senators and governors have also claimed responsibility
for that funding bonanza.
But there is a cost. Taxpayers, on average, will pay nearly $2,100 a person,
provided the legislator or staffer doesn't rent a car or skip the conference
meals to dine out. If they do that, taxpayers may wind up picking up the
tab.
Hearing about the lawmakers' trip didn't draw criticism from taxpayer
watchdog James Broussard or Millersville University political science
professor Terry Madonna.
"Going away to a conference is an interlude in a much deeper struggle over
the policy direction of the state," Madonna said.
A top-level Rendell administration staffer didn't have a problem with it
either. Maybe it will do some good, the staffer said. "Maybe they'll be in a
better mood when they come back."
JAN MURPHY: 787-3061 or jmurphy@no-spam
Pa. politicians cast their eyes out west (Calif) and seeing all they do;
desire to enrich our Commenwealth.
(Ten years the images took to reach them.)
Maybe if they go thence, they will see in real time.
Venice Beach or Hollyweird. That can be a future vision for our leaders.
onlyblacksocks@no-spam (Ben Quick) wrote
> National conference offers break from state budget work
> Of The Patriot-News
What is the "Patriot News"?
> Forty-nine Pennsylvania legislators, at last count, will catch a plane for
> San Francisco next week to attend the National Conference of State
> Legislatures annual meeting. Joining them will be 48 legislative staffers,
> including some who will be making presentations at the conference.
So? Nothing wrong with this.
First the critics say the state is too isolated and unaware
of changes in the rest of the world. Yet here is an opportunity
to compare notes with other states and get up to speed. I think
it is good that the legislators and their staffs are going.