It's $163. It's called per diem, the amount of money a state legislator can get every day whenever the House or Senate is in session, even weekends. It's $1,100 per week on top of a $78,314.66 annual salary. In June, a statewide investigating Grand Jury recommended that the practice be eliminated, or at a minimum, reduced to actual expenses incurred.Republican House candidate Justin Simmons and Democrat Senate candidate Rock Orloski are on the same page here. On his campaign web page, Simmons has vowed to refuse any per diem money. Orloski has made the same pledge. Here's how Orloski explains it.
"Senator Pat Browne has a secret piggy ban funded by the taxpayers: per diems. A per diem is nothing more than a back-door pay raise which State Senators can collect, upon request. A State Senator does not automatically get a per diem. The Senator must ask for it. State Senators are not a shy bunch. Between December 2007 and October 2009, State Senators made 5,560 requests for per diems, costing taxpayers $774,700.00. Senator Browne made 155 request for per diems in 2008-2009, putting $17,300.00 in his pocket on top of his salary.
"Senator Andy Dinniman (Demo - 19th district) and Senator Richard Alloway (Rep - 33rd district) have tried to end the practice. So far, their bipartisan effort has failed. Senator Browne will not support them.
"I have repeatedly asked Senator Browne to release his 2010 per diems. On February 1, 2010, the Senator's wife, Heather Browne, became a registered lobbyist with Pugliese Associates, a rich and powerful Harrisburg lobbying form with strong connections with Republican legislators, particularly former Speaker of the House John Perzel. It is no secret that registered lobbyist with Pugliese are provided expense accounts for wining and dining legislators. There are even unconfirmed reports that Pugliese provides apartments for their out-of-town lobbyists, for use while they are in Harrisburg.
"If there was ever a State Senator who did not need per diems for coming to work in Harrisburg, it is a State Senator who is married to a lobbyist with an expense account and a free apartment. Hence, it occurred to me that it was within the realm of possibility that Senator Browne ceased requesting per diems after his wife joined Pugliese Associates. I asked him anyway, half expecting the answer to be NONE. Senator Browne ignored the question. I went to the Clerk of the Senate. He gave me the answer.
"So far, in calendar year 2010, Senator Browne made 50 separate per diem requests for a total of $6,361.00 with the first "processed date" occurring eight days after Heather Browne became a registered lobbyist. January, 2010 processed requests are not included.
"Incomplete records for 2008 thru October, 2010 show that Senator Browne has received at least $23,661.00 in per diems during that period of time. (November and December 2009 and January 2010 per diems were not available).
"I am reminded by a famous observation by Gilbert Keith Chesterton about similar public officials: 'The horrible thing about all legal officials, even the best, about all judges, magistrates, barristers, detectives and policeman, is not that they are wicked (some of them are good), not that they are stupid (some of them are quite intelligent), it is simply that they have got used to it.'
"Pat Browne has been a State Legislator a long time ... really, too long. The salary. The per diems. The lobbyist salary for the wife. The business expense account for the wife. Pat Browne simply got used to it."
