Readers in my state and/or city might find these interesting:
The current crisis in Pittsburgh didn't happen overnight. It's from more than a decade of bad policy and mismanagement by both the Mayor and City Council. As a result, City residents must now suffer and pay for something which was largely perpetrated behind their backs.
But how could this happen? It's because there is currently no effective mechanism for city residents to learn for themselves what is really going on inside their government and they have been unable to give their informed consent or hold their public officials accountable.
What can we do about it? The best answer is to pass the proposed Open Government Amendment to the Pittsburgh City Charter, but to do that we must first place it on the November 8, 2005 ballot and that requires collecting over 15,000 signatures from Pittsburghers between June 21st and August 7, 2005.
Learn more about the Pittsburgh City Charter Open Government Amendment.
Operation Clean Sweep is aimed at one simple goal: cleaning house in the Pennsylvania General Assembly by defeating every single incumbent officeholder up for re-election in 2006.
The current members of the General Assembly have slapped taxpayers in the face by awarding themselves a huge pay increase. While some members did vote "no" on the increase, it is common knowledge that all votes were pre-arranged to protect vulnerable seats.
Operation Clean Sweep is not a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Constitution or Green Party issue. It's us vs. them. The governed vs. the government. The taxpayers vs. the tax spenders.
Are you outraged at the recent legislative pay raise? Are you fed up? Are you genuinely ready to make a real change in Pennsylvania? If so, this is your chance to set things straight.
In 2006, all 203 members of the House of Representatives and 25 of our 50 Senators must face re-election. With your help, we can give them all a run for their money by seeking out qualified candidates - in non-partisan fashion - to challenge the incumbents in both the Primary and General elections.
These incumbents are betting you will forget this pay raise before the next election. We're betting you won't. Together, we can do more than just get mad - we can get even!
Please, join us now…
…because taxpayers are not sheep!!!
Related news story: Pay raise anger starts boiling over
Funky Dung
Comments 6
Well, at least sweep out the arrogant thieves who voted for this pay raise — though I suppose a case could be made that some who voted against it were already certain of its passage, so they did what they thought would make them look good — so, yeah, I with you on this.
Which is academic anyway, as my rep not only voted for it, but also commandeered the local op-ed page to tout his own courage at passing this legislation!
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Posted 22 Jul 2005 at 8:26 am ¶His courage? Pray tell us how he made a pay raise sound courageous, or at least how he tried to make it sound so.
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Posted 22 Jul 2005 at 2:37 pm ¶I've the like to Operation Clean Sweep on my blog. Vote the bums out!!
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Posted 22 Jul 2005 at 11:03 pm ¶Sorry. That is supposed to be "I've got the link to Operation Clean Sweep on my blog." I hope they succeed!!
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Posted 22 Jul 2005 at 11:04 pm ¶His courage? Pray tell us how he made a pay raise sound courageous, or at least how he tried to make it sound so.
-You're testing my memory a bit with that one (especially since I can't seem to find the article online anymore), but I'll take a stab at what he was trying to pull over the readers' eyes:
It basically had to do with sacrificing his good reputation for the good of the budget. In other words, "If we hadn't branded ourselves as greedy public servants by taking this pay raise, we would have never been able to pass this otherwise fantastic budget. I, of course, could have voted no, but we all realize by now that the pay raise was destined to pass and that even most of those who voted against it were in favor of it (but were too afraid to be linked to it officially). And since the executive and judicial branch employees salary increases are tied to the legislative raises — and we do want to attract the best and the brightest to serve the Commonwealth, right? — you see, we just had to bite the bullet and give ourselves this horrible pay raise."
Of course, that's the paraphrased version, but when you look at it like that you realize these fine ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly subjected themselves to the scourge of a higher compensation package for the good of the state. In essence, they took one for the team.
I never said I was buying his story, but that's the basic gist of it.
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Posted 23 Jul 2005 at 8:55 am ¶Ah, the gall! Howard, I cannot kick his sorry tail out of office, so I'm counting on your and neighbors to please enjoy it for me!
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Posted 23 Jul 2005 at 11:18 pm ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 5
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