Totalitarian Pennsylvania update.

Remember how the Keystone State's legislature granted themselves an illegal pay raise, kiddies?

It looks like the Repansycan leadership, along with greedy Democrasses and the bought judges are determined to make a mockery of the Commonwealth's constitution.

It's time for lawmakers who voted against pay raises to demand that their leaders repeal the salary grab following a death stroke dealt to two repeal-related bills by House Speaker John Perzel, a former top Republican staffer says.

Bill Williams, former communications director for House Republicans, said legislative opponents of the 16 to 54 percent pay hike need to “stand up and publicly challenge leadership."

Perzel's spokeswoman Beth Williams confirmed Wednesday that the speaker assigned the two bills to the leadership-controlled Rules Committee, which serves as a graveyard for legislation House leaders want to kill.

Perzel did so on Tuesday, just a day after approximately 1,500 angry taxpayers at the state Capitol demanded repeal of the pay hike, according to the General Assembly's Web site. Petitions with 129,000 signatures demanding repeal were presented to Perzel, Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, on Monday.

One bill (H.B. 1945) would repeal the raises that were approved without debate or public comment in the early morning hours of July 7. The other bill (H.B. 1956) would repeal a provision that allows lawmakers to take the raises this term, as about half of the legislators are doing. (Thanks to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for the heads up.)