Politicians have been criticized for giving themselves a 16% pay raise and spending $825,000 on luxury resort seminars for state employees. The article argues that while education is important, taxpayer money should not be spent on resorts like The Homestead and Greenbrier when cheaper options like community colleges are available. It calls for an end to the "Let Them Eat Cake" attitude of frivolous spending from politicians, and for voters to hold their leaders accountable at the next election for supporting the pay raise and luxury spending.

1. Feeding frenzy of politicians
has got to come to an end
Published: Thursday, August 11, 2005
Heard the one about the state legislator who thought he was poor?
He found out he was only making $69,000 a year so he voted himself a 16 percent raise.
Where do these people think they are, the 1990s?
We're sorry to be the ones to tell you, fellas, but the boom times are over. You may still be able to
bring your ladles aboard the gravy train, but for most of us, there is no free ride.
We worry about job security. We see our raises sharply reduced to single digits or eliminated
outright. Costs are rising. So tell us again how your raise will better serve us, your constituents?
It's not too late. You can still give the money back. Funnel your raises into the budgets of those state
agencies that faced funding cuts under your watch. That would be a good start toward mending the
fence.
As if this inexplicable act isn't bad enough, now word comes that state employees are attending
luxurious seminars.
An Associated Press story is reporting that state taxpayers have paid $825,000 since 2001 to pay for
employees from 13 state agencies to attend seminars and retreats at luxury resorts. We agree education
is important and that state workers must be trained and apprised of new developments, but hasn't
anybody ever heard of a Holiday Inn?
Resorts of note include The Hotel Hershey, Skytop Lodge in the Poconos, Nemacolin Woodlands
Resort in Fayette County, The Homestead in Hot Springs, Va., and the Greenbrier in White Sulphur
Springs, W. Va. The argument in favor of such locales is that attendees won't go to seminars in the cities
and that the resorts are needed to attract national speakers. Well, maybe.
Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, counters in the article that
places like Harrisburg Area Community College would likely have conference rooms available for many
of the seminars at a cheaper cost.
It's important to create a nice atmosphere when educating your government workers, but we'd
have a hard time convincing a constituent who can only afford a Motel 6 vacation that it's necessary for
his government to stay at Skytop.
What we don't understand, after hearing about the pay raise from the legislators and this latest bit
of luxuriating, is why government officials feel it's OK, and why they're not worrying. Legislators, now on
summer recess, have been noticeably quiet in talking about the raise. Thankfully, the media and the
voters have not.

2. If we are to survive difficult times, government and the private sector must rein in their frivolous
spending. This "Let Them Eat Cake" attitude from our politicians has got to come to an end. And it can.
Make your leaders accountable for their actions and their greed. Don't forget about this. Find out who
voted for the pay raise and find out why they supported it. Then take that information to the voting
booth at the next election and let them know there whether you feel their salary is worth it.