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State pay raise debacle now a primary problem
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Race
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| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Edited | Chronicler May 10, 2006 06:27am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Allentown Morning Call |
| News Date | Wednesday, May 10, 2006 12:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Legislative leaders, historically unchallenged, are facing the fight of their political lives.
By John L. Micek
Call Harrisburg Bureau
It's a perfect spring afternoon, and the people of this sleepy Altoona suburb have their windows open and their sleeves rolled up for the first time in months.
Robert Jubelirer, in casual tweed blazer and open collar shirt, is taking advantage of the warm weather to go door-to-door to visit voters.
A 30-year veteran of the state Senate and its longest-serving presiding officer, Jubelirer is fighting for his political life for the first time since Gerald Ford occupied the White House.
Why? Voter outrage over the legislative pay raise. Like Jubelirer, the state's mightiest politicians, men who have gone unchallenged in primary elections for a decade or more, find themselves in an unaccustomed position — out on the stump.
And what they're hearing isn't pretty.
''I will not vote for you. That's the way it is,'' voter Don Griffith told Jubelirer. Griffith jabbed the air with his finger as he spoke. ''How can I make $97,000 a year?''
''What's that got to do with me?'' Jubelirer asked, his voice rising in obvious frustration as he tried to explain his actions. ''I gave it all back.''
Griffith, a former grocery manager who's still smarting over the 16-34 percent raise Jubelirer helped craft and ultimately had to repeal, wasn't hearing it. He said he's voted for Jubelirer for years, but that's all over now... |
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