Letter to the editor: Pa. legislators' pay

I read with bewilderment Richard Herd’s letter “Inflation for Pa. officials vs. Pa. seniors” on the cost of living discrepancy between the Pennsylvania Legislature and seniors.

There is a good reason for it that is far worse than Herd can imagine. It dates back to the legislators’ infamous midnight pay raise that blew up in their faces, and they had to rescind the pay raise legislation — except for the justices in the courts system who got their pay raise.

But don’t feel bad for the legislators. While most of the poor working stiffs in Pennsylvania got nothing, the legislators have been drawing the City of Philadelphia’s cost-of-living adjustment for many years. That is the prime reason they have not tried to pass a bill for a pay raise in all these years. So from July 2005 until today, our Legislature has been drawing a cost-of-living pay adjustment without a vote.

My question is, has your pay gone up over the last 14 years by the cost of living? I doubt it.

Ray Borkoski

Ford City