John Baer of the Philly Daily News is today’s must-read.
We ought to start sending sheep to the Legislature. I know you think we already do, but I mean for real. Hear me out. We save a ton of money even if we phase them in. Most sheep don’t drive so we save on taxpayer-financed car leases and mileage. They don’t need golden-fleece health benefits or fat pensions; we just put them out to pasture. We save a bundle on catered Capitol meals costing taxpayers nearly $250,000 during the last legislative session ($20,550 in one day), according to a recent report in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Heck, sheep can eat grass in Capitol Park and on highway medians around Harrisburg.
We save on the cost of lawmakers’ per diems, $30,000 to $50,000 a day. Sheep are easy to herd, rarely go on the lam and the influence of special interests would decline - I can think of only a few lobbyists who’d want to take sheep out. And, really, is there is any better argument for reducing humans in our overlarge, overstaffed, underperforming Legislature than Gov. Ed’s comments while announcing the state budget agreement last Friday?
The Guv withheld specifics because he didn’t want rank-and-file members (that would be, oh, 247 of the 253 legislators) to learn the details in the media. This, of course, is because just six “leaders” negotiated budget terms. Most lawmakers had virtually nothing to do with the deal. The vast majority actually learns details only from the media.
