Greg Vitali: Model Legislator

Now see, we have been telling all of you NOT familiar with PA State Representative Greg Vitali (D-PA) how cool he was....and today...in the Inquirer, John Grogan agrees! Representative Vitali is one of those guys you WANT in your corner. He is a paragon of public service....Our part of Ardmore targeted by eminent domain and bogus blight isn’t even his gig, because we are not part of his district. Yet he stays on top of the issue here in Lower Merion. Why? Because Greg Vitali is his own man. He leads by example, and lives the embodiment of public service. With Greg Vitali, it is NOT politics as usual. Ever. Can we same about others in his position?

Here’s the article:

John Grogan | Vitali benefits from pay virtue
By John Grogan
Inquirer Columnist

Excerpt:

“State Rep. Greg Vitali has a lot to smile about these days.And nearly all of it has to do with his stance against the legislative pay raise that has roiled Pennsylvania politics for the last six months.

The Delaware County Democrat was among the minority that voted against the raise in that now-infamous 2 a.m. vote in July. He was among the even smaller minority that never accepted a dime of the extra money. Some of his colleagues who voted against the raise promptly lined up to take it.

Reams of copy have been written about the venal lawmakers who voted themselves the raise in the dead of night, then left town and refused to discuss it. But not much has been said about those who voted against it, or about those who refused to collect it in the form of unvouchered expenses despite a ban on midterm pay raises. (You can read their names at [philly.com].)

Vitali got more attention than some of the others because he was among those publicly punished by House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese for opposing the pay raise. First, DeWeese, in a vindictive snit, stripped him of a subcommittee position - and the $4,000 bonus that entailed. Then he moved to cut funding for Vitali's district newsletter and an aide.

All of which, of course, only endeared Vitali all the more to his constituents.

....Now the seventh-term lawmaker is laughing all the way to the November election. When he is out for a jog, he said, constituents pull over to thank him for doing the right thing on the raise. It's the kind of public-relations bonanza politicians dream of.

There is a morality tale here. Sometimes the right course is the best course, one that is duly noted and rewarded. Good guys can finish first.

...Vitali said he would support legislation requiring all lobbyist-paid meals, gifts and treats to be fully and publicly disclosed. That way, constituents could see who was wining and dining their representatives.

Full disclosure, he said, would naturally curb abuses and influence peddling. Without it, he added, "you're not going to change the culture here. And if you don't change the culture, what's the whole point?"

A question we all need to be asking, and asking loudly.”

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