From the Bulletin:

State Rep. Rick Taylor, D-151st, of Montgomery County yesterday proposed to prohibit any bonuses from General Assembly caucuses to their employees.

“I think bonuses are susceptible to abuse,” Mr. Taylor said. “Bonuses tend to be subjective unless there are tight, tight rules as to how you give out bonuses.”

Mr. Taylor is among the state legislators mentioned in the state attorney general’s presentiment issued late last week whose 2006 state House of Representatives campaign allegedly benefited from taxpayer money. In all, the four Assembly caucuses are alleged to have given out as much as $3.6 million in bonuses for campaign work, with $1.9 million coming from the House Democratic Caucus.

Awarding of bonuses for that purpose would violate Pennsylvania law. The state alleges that Rachel Manzo and Beth Marietta both got compensation from the caucus while working on Mr. Taylor’s campaign. No government entity has yet determined the Democrat to have known that these workers received state payments while assisting him.

His bill would forbid any state compensation to legislative staffers surpassing their wages or salaries, broadening current law which only prohibits bonuses for political work. A House Democratic Caucus rule went into effect last year to that effect and Mr. Taylor wants to codify it to affect all the caucuses.

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