Bonus Totalitarian Pennsylvania Update.

One of my brother's best friends is a PA state rep from outside of Pittsburgh. When this pay raise kerfuffle started, he arrogantly proclaimed in public how he deserved every penny of it because he worked so hard for the folks in his district.

He ought to be tossed out, but he won't be. He's a leftist D in a very strong D district. (This is NOT a D versus R thing. There are plenty of fat, lazy, complacent Repansycans in PA who should be thrown out of power too.) Term limits are a necessity, but they will never happen. What oligarch is going to vote himself out of power?

My only consolation is the certainty of a particularly nasty circle of Hell reserved for those who abuse the authority of public offices.

The 2005 pay raise for top state officials could go down in flames on Monday. Perhaps it'll take until Tuesday. Maybe it won't get done until early the following week.

But lawmakers are determined to get this turkey off their plates by Thanksgiving.

House and Senate leaders said they have the same goal: to repeal the 16 percent to 54 percent raises that lawmakers granted themselves and the executive and judicial branches in the early morning hours of July 7.

But they differ on how to do it so that judges can't rely on a constitutional provision to hold onto their raises.

The constitution prevents judges' salaries from being reduced, unless by law applying generally to all salaried officers of the state. The provision is designed to keep the judges free of legislative interference.

In all likelihood, the resolution they seek will be hammered out privately and then presented in final form in public, either at a conference
committee or on the floor of the House or Senate.

That's how many issues in Harrisburg get done. That's how the pay raise was handled. (Thanks to PennLive.com for the heads up.)