HARRISBURG Senators disagree with House

The Senate stripped a lot of 'walking-around money' from the spending bill.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Defying legislative etiquette, some state senators are openly criticizing House leaders for spending tax dollars on incumbent re-election programs, plane trips and restaurant meals at a time the state faces serious budget problems.
The criticism was underscored by the Senate Appropriations Committee last week, when it voted to strip more than $300 million from a $1.1 billion spending bill that the House had approved.
Most of the cuts came from discretionary legislative accounts, including $65 million in "walking-around money" for local projects in legislators' districts and $2 million increases in each of a pair of unaudited $12.3 million funds controlled by House Republican and Democratic leaders.
The increases in the special leadership accounts controlled by House Speaker John Perzel, R-Philadelphia, and House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese, D-Greene, were approved by the House one day after The Morning Call in Allentown reported on how that money has been spent.
Incumbent protection
In the six months leading up to last year's legislative elections, the newspaper reported, Perzel spent almost $3 million on incumbent-protection programs that included phone banks, TV ads and political consultants.
DeWeese spent $420,000 for similar purposes and nearly $100,000 more on transportation that included a dozen flights to and from Philadelphia and a private chauffeur, the newspaper said.
Senate critics say the House leadership-account spending tarnishes the Senate because most voters do not differentiate between the two chambers.
"Something needs to be done," said Sen. Allen Kukovich, D-Westmoreland. "This can't go on."
"I think all of us have to keep our spending down," said Sen. Charles W. Dent, R-Lehigh, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "I can't defend or justify those expenditures."
Perzel and DeWeese both defended their use of the funds as being within the bounds of the law, and their spokesmen insisted the proposed increases were necessary.
Steve Miskin, Perzel's spokesman, said the money is needed to avoid layoffs of employees whose salaries are paid from the leadership accounts, although House records show that few, if any, state employees are paid from the GOP account.
Barb Grill, DeWeese's spokeswoman, said the increase was needed if a governor tries to eliminate funding for the Legislature. Gov. Ed Rendell, like DeWeese, is a Democrat.
Sen. Robert Thompson, a Chester County Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, noted that the spending approved by the House calls for increases in the income tax and other levies.
"When you raise taxes, you shouldn't be increasing discretionary spending at those levels," he said.