Folks, this is very serious business. Thanks to a couple of very sharp and able citizen watchdogs and watchdog groups, the ludicrously stupid and blatantly illegal actions of our State Supreme Court and our State Legislature in their conspiracy to steal from the tax payers last year was exposed for all the world to see, and the process mostly reversed. Now, it is time to hold accountable those who would run rampant over your rights as a citizen of Pennsylvania, and of the United States, and then blithely, and arrogantly attempt to dismiss your concerns.
Here is news by way of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Group asks U.S. court to take over
pay-raise challenges It says state high court justices have conflicts of interest because their pay hinges on the outcome.
By Peter Jackson, Associated Press
Sat, Mar. 25, 2006HARRISBURG - A government watchdog group asked a federal judge yesterday to seize jurisdiction over lawsuits that challenge a now-repealed law that increased the pay of top state officials.
Common Cause of Pennsylvania said the justices on the state Supreme Court, which is poised to consider several such suits, have conflicts of interest because the level of their own salaries hinges on the outcome.
Common Cause filed its own lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg last fall. Its latest filing seeks a court order barring the state's highest court from acting on related state lawsuits until 60 days after the federal case is resolved.
"It is the only way citizens of Pennsylvania can attain any confidence in the potential outcome of this high-profile case," said Barry Kauffman, the group's executive director.
Federal intervention is warranted because, among other things, all the Supreme Court justices have a financial stake in the outcome of the case, the group said.
The law, which legislators repealed last fall amid a public outcry over their own raises, included salary increases of as much as 15 percent for the state's more than 1,000 judges.
The state Supreme Court has scheduled an April 4 hearing in Philadelphia for oral arguments on several related cases, according to the court prothonotary's office.
One is citizen activist Gene Stilp's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the pay-raise law that lawmakers approved without debate or hearings early in the morning of July 7.
Also to be argued that day are lawsuits filed by two judges seeking to resurrect the judicial raises.
Chief Justice Ralph Cappy has recused himself from those cases.
Common Cause argues in its brief that, while federal courts' authority to interfere with state courts is limited, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld their role as "guardians of the people's federal rights" in the event that state actions jeopardize those rights.
Common Cause reprised its allegations that state legislative leaders and state Supreme Court justices may have improperly swapped financial support for the court system in exchange for a favorable court ruling. State court system officials have called the charges baseless and reckless.
As evidence of possible bias, the group also noted the chairman of the state Judicial Conduct Board, Mark C. Schultz, is the brother of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman. The board investigates complaints of ethical misconduct by judges.
Contacted at his Philadelphia law office, Schultz acknowledged that the Supreme Court appointed him to the board. Schultz also said he joined in the board's unanimous vote last month to dismiss a complaint, filed by Stilp, that alleged Cappy violated ethical rules by pushing for higher judicial wages among members of the legislature.
Like all complaints the board receives, this one was independently investigated by the board's staff, and the board voted on the staff's recommendation, he said.
"Obviously, if I felt I was compromised, I wouldn't have participated," Schultz said.
Our Judges should know better. Our legislators should know better than to conspire with the Judges on an unconstitutional pay raise. Watch out for the cover-up, folks, and don’t be surprised when you find out that there is money from that pay raise still going out to the judges. There were deals cut even on the repeal! The judges threatened the legislature if they tried to take away the raise from them, and several judges have sued in Commonwealth Court (there’s a fair venue, eh?) to keep the pay raise, citing a Constitutional Amendment restricting the legislature from reducing judicial pay unless all high officials of the Commonwealth also have their pay reduced.
THE CENTRIST will be frank with you, this whole thing has taken on a shape that seems to suggest that the Judges, specifically Supreme Court Justice Ralph Cappy, conned the entire state legislature by waving a whopping 16-34% raise under their noses, and the greedy buggers bit like a hungry bass after a grasshopper on an August evening.
Cappy played legislative leadership (read: Fumo, Brightbill, DeWeese, Jubelirer, Mellow, O’Pake, Piccola, Wenger, Conti, Costa, Smith, Veon, Argall, Taylor, Cohen, Evens, Feese, and our greatest legislator, the man who doesn’t know the difference between a car and a limo, Speaker of the House John Perzel) into passing by stealth (in the wee hours of the morning during last minute back and forth between the house and the Senate over the budget) the enormous pay raise, figuring they wouldn’t get caught, and the electorate didn’t care, and even if they did, they’d forget by election day. The level of hubris in Harrisburg has long since risen above flood stage.
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But that’s not the story here. Here is the real story. Conoboy works for a healthcare firm in the Lehigh Valley. The Chairman of that firm is Louis DeNaples. Conoboy himself sits on the board of a local bank, along with DeNaples, who chairs that board as well. The bank holds the mortgage to Conoboy’s home. Sounds like friends helping friends, right? No harm here, right? Conoboy even made $95,000 last year by exercising his stock options with the bank. All clean and legit, right?
Louis DeNaples has a pending application before the Gambling Control Board for a license to operate a 3,000 machine slots parlor at Mt. Airy Lodge in the Poconos.
There is nothing in the state Gambling law that would protect you by preventing situations like this. Read what the Inquirer has to say about pending amendments to the Gambling bill that deal with conflicts of interest.
Oh, and one last tidbit about Mr. Conoboy, who is a lawyer [what did you expect?]. He has drawn $145,000 in salary from his seat on the Gambling Control Board. I guess he just now found out about his buddy DeNaples’ license application. Do ya think?!
THE CENTRIST
“Kick the hubris out of Harrisburg!” -- THE CENTRIST
"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs." -- Albert Einstein
Copyright © 2006: “THE CENTRIST”. All Rights Reserved.
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