Last week, DR (Democracy Rising PA) Board Chair Mark Widoff, Esq., and President Tim Potts asked state officials to abide by the plain language of the Constitution and a unanimous 1995 Commonwealth Court decision and stop approving the grants commonly known as WAMs for Walking Around Money. Today at a news conference, they released the letters and a legal memo substantiating their conclusion that WAMs – and any other grants given at the direction of lawmakers – are unconstitutional.
DR made the requests in letters to Gov. Ed Rendell, State Treasurer Robert McCord, Attorney General Tom Corbett, Auditor General Jack Wagner, and the leaders of the four legislative caucuses. Each official plays a part in approving WAMs, each has taken an oath to “obey” the Constitution, and each can refuse to process WAMs in the future.
Widoff gave two reasons to stop WAMs.
“First, it is unlawful. In 1995, the president judge of the Commonwealth Court, in an exceptionally clear opinion written for the full court and affirmed by the state Supreme Court, declared that legislators simply may not designate the recipients of program grants. The court went to great pains to say that this may not be done directly or indirectly…”
“Second, and related to the first point, the court carefully explained that one of the key reasons these designations are unlawful is that they violate the separation of powers principle a central principle of American government.
“Our founders were not theoreticians. They were very practical people. They established separation of powers precisely to protect us from the kind of abuse and corruption that these WAMs breed.”
Potts illustrated constitutional violations with the example of a $1 million grant to Waynesburg University, a private sectarian school.
Article III, Section 11 says that general appropriations can “embrace nothing but appropriations for the executive, legislative and judicial departments of the Commonwealth, for the public debt and for public schools. All other appropriations shall be made by separate bills, each embracing but one subject.”
The Commonwealth uses these “other appropriations,” called “non-preferred” appropriations, to provide money to non-sectarian universities including Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh, to hospitals and medical research programs, and for other purposes.
In addition to each one being funded by a separate bill, these “other appropriations” have another hurdle. Article III, Section 30 of the Constitution says, “No appropriation shall be made to any charitable or educational institution not under the absolute control of the Commonwealth…except by a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each House.”
The grant for Waynesburg University came from a general appropriation. The money was not appropriated in a separate bill, and there was no two-thirds vote to approve it. Instead, it was routed through an executive agency, requiring only a simple majority.
“This WAM in particular used subterfuge to evade the Constitution’s plain requirement for any aid to private universities to be approved by a super-majority in a separate bill,” said Potts.
DR’s letters asked the auditor general to declare the grants unlawful, to take audit exceptions to them and to seek the return of state funds expended; asked the governor to blue line all WAMs in the budget; asked the attorney general to disapprove the grants as illegal; asked the state treasurer to refuse to write checks for the grants; and asked legislative leaders to keep the grants out of this year’s budget.
Click here for all of the documents at today’s press conference.
Click here for the PA Constitution on DR’s web site.
New Report, Worse Result
The National Conference of State Legislatures, a non-partisan research organization, has updated its report on staffing in the 50 state legislatures. By a wide margin, PA’s General Assembly has claimed the title for having the most permanent legislative staff in America.
With just 4.1% of the US population, PA has 10.6% of all permanent legislative staff. This eclipses New York, which two years ago was number one. By contrast, California has 12.1% of the US population but only 7.4% of full-time legislative staff. Click here for an edition of DR News with the details in 2007.
Since then, New York has cut 401 permanent positions for a complement of 2,676 staff this year. PA has cut 27 positions, leaving 2,918 permanent staff and taking the lead away from NY by 242 positions.
Click here to see the 50-state comparison.
As with all matters of public integrity, we don’t have to be last. We can be first if we make integrity a voting issue. The only thing that stands in the way of excellence is the political will to achieve it. That’s what next year’s elections can prove.
Read more at Democracy Rising Pennsylvania P.O. Box 618, Carlisle, PA 17013
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Posted on 09/04/2009 by papundits
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