Payroll

==Insights==
===House miserly with payroll records===
: By Brad Bumsted, STATE CAPITOL REPORTER, February 3, 2007
: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_491624.html
HARRISBURG -- While lawmakers tout reform and
transparency in government, the state House refuses to
let the public fully examine its taxpayer-financed
payroll.
A long-standing policy permits citizens to review only
15 salaries at a time. That means it would take more
than three months to review all 1,700 House salaries
if the chief clerk's office agreed to accommodate such
a request each day.
Not releasing the full payroll has "just always been
the policy of this office since the beginning of
time," said Denise Johnson, executive secretary of the
clerk's office. It's an "inner-office policy," said
Johnson, who might release 20 names a day on a large
request.
Asked how long it would take to get the first 15 House
salaries, Johnson said Friday: "It would not be
today."
Transparency emerged as an issue this week when House
leaders disclosed that bonuses paid to staffers
exceeded $3.6 million during the past two years,
including more than $2.3 million for Democrats alone.
"No way," said Mable Mazza, of Allegheny Township,
Westmoreland County, a retiree. "You should be able to
see it, because it's public record."
She said the bonuses paid to legislative staffers
amount to "theft by deception."
"There should be a better accounting. They should
account for every dollar they get," said Stanley
Shutok, 85, of Canonsburg, Washington County, a
retired Air Force major. He thinks the House payroll
policy and legislative staff bonuses are wrong.
"How do they get away with it? I thought it was
supposed to be out in the open," Shutok said.
The Senate provides a complete payroll for inspection
in Harrisburg, but typically after a delay of a few
days or weeks.
This week, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati,
a Jefferson County Republican who has pledged to
operate the Senate with transparency, made available
in about five minutes the full payroll for Senate
employees. Senate Republicans were the first caucus to
release a list of staff bonuses.
Neither House Democrats nor House Republican leaders
released their payrolls when producing the bonuses.
Such records show how much staff members are paid
annually, the legislators to whom they are assigned,
where and what hours they work, and whether they are
provided certain benefits.
Tom Andrews, spokesman for House Majority Leader Bill
DeWeese, D-Greene County, argued that payroll records
are available in the House Chief Clerk's Office, even
if they must be requested 15 at a time. Andrews, who
received a $12,750 bonus last year, told reporters who
wanted the information to check with the clerk's
office.
The information House Republicans released on bonuses
included a number that officials said showed what
percentage of an employee's salary the bonus
represented. There were 264 bonuses on the House GOP
list -- only a fraction of the caucus' employees.
"They are just trying to make the process harder,"
said Rep. Tim Mahoney, a Uniontown Democrat who
advocates open records.
Yet, House and Senate leaders say they'll support
legislation to apply the state's Right to Know Law to
the Legislature, which exempted itself when writing
the law.
House Speaker Dennis O'Brien, R-Philadelphia, said a
commission he formed to study legislative reforms
should consider the policy allowing only piecemeal
review of payroll information.
"I'm not trying to dodge this," O'Brien said in an
interview this week. "They are issues we will submit
to the reform commission for a recommendation and a
response. I don't want to pre-judge. It's a policy
issue they should look at."
The disclosure of staff bonuses was "almost a slap in
the face, at a time when you are trying to put
confidence back in the system," said Rep. Mark Mustio,
R-Moon, who supports full release of payroll
information. "I am for showing everything."
Brad Bumsted can be reached at bbumsted@tribweb.com or
(717) 787-1405.
===Bonus cash gets recycled into campaign war chests ===
: http://www.witf.org/FM/news.php, 02/05/2007, Damon Boughamer
(Harrisburg) -- Some recipients of large secret bonus checks issued
to state House Democratic aides were also some of the top
contributors to House Democratic campaigns. That's according to an
analysis by WITF News.
In essence, what public radio found was that a good chunk of the
bonus cash was effectively recycled, over the course of a year, from
taxpayer-funded payroll accounts into political coffers.
The analysis shows at least $44,000 in contributions to three
Democratic campaign accounts came from those who got unreported
bonuses in 2006. The three accounts belong to the House Democratic
Campaign Committee and the committees to re-elect now-Majority Leader
Bill DeWeese and ousted then-Minority Whip Mike Veon.
In some cases, House staffers made political contributions almost
equal to their bonuses. Janice Bissett of New Cumberland got $2130,
gave $1250.
John Caltagirone of Pennside got $565, gave $501. DeWeese's
spokesman, Tom Andrews, said the caucus would not release the exact
dates bonus checks were issued, so for now, it's impossible to
connect any receipt of a bonus directly to any campaign contribution.
It's not illegal for employees of the House Democratic caucus to
contribute to campaigns. The question is whether a staff that, in
all, received more than $1.6 million in secret bonuses in 2006 --
nearly four times more than in the previous, non-election year --
found itself more inclined to make political contributions.
category:finance 
category:news coverage
category:open