Column As I See âEm

With the state primary election fast approaching, you're asking, "Gee, I'd like to vote, but I don't remember which of our local state legislators voted for that huge pay raise. Could you help me out, Mr. Almanac person?"

That's a good question, hypothetical straw man I just introduced to make a point. Here's a reminder of which of your state representatives thought they deserved a minimum of $81,000 per year --- more than many engineers, scientists and doctors.

And just remember: They work, on average, 77 days per year.

Voting "yes":
Paul Costa, Democrat, Wilkins Twp.; Pete Daley, Democrat, Coal Center; Joe Markosek, Democrat, Monroeville; Ken Ruffing, Democrat, West Mifflin

Voting "no":
Jim Casorio, Democrat, Irwin; Marc Gergely, Democrat, White Oak; David Levdansky, Democrat, Elizabeth; Harry Readshaw, Democrat, Carrick

Did not vote:
Ted Harhai, Democrat, Monessen.

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By the way: I see from George Matta's signs that he's running as an "independent voice" for the Mon Valley. (Matta is opposing Gergely for the Democratic nomination in the district that includes parts of Our Fair City, White Oak, Duquesne and Munhall.)

No offense to Mr. Matta, but as far as I'm aware, he's been involved in party politics for at least 15 years. He's the endorsed Democrat. He's the former mayor of Duquesne and the current Allegheny County Clerk of Courts (a longtime bastion of Democratic patronage). And I say that as a registered Democrat.

George Matta running as an "independent voice" is like Colonel Sanders being called a "vegetarian" because he sometimes ate corn.

Also, there's a Matta billboard near UPMC McKeesport Hospital that Matta is slapping Gergely for taking the pay raise even though he didn't vote for it. Well, it's a fair cop, guv'nor.

The "leadership" of the state General Assembly was brilliant in ramming that pay raise through. They handed every single person who wanted to run for the Legislature a perfect club with which to beat the incumbents over the head.

It might have been the smartest political move since Napoleon Bonaparte said, "Gee, it doesn't get that cold in Russia, does it?"

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A quick check of the Mon-Yough Gas Gauge indicates that since March 4, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline around Our Fair City is up 54.2 cents per gallon.

That should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who drives a car or lives near a gas station, of course, but even still, it's kind of startling that in a little more than a month, it's jumped more than 50 cents.

Actually, it's jumped more than that. I've been trying to update it each Saturday, but at least two gas stations I pass each day have raised their prices twice this week. One was selling 87 octane gas at $2.799 on Saturday, but it's up to $2.899 as of this morning: It jumped six cents on Monday and four more cents either last night or this morning.

I don't really have time to make a survey more often, but if you want to report prices, feel free to visit the Gas Gauge and leave your observations in the "comments" section. (Don't feel bad if you don't know the name of the station, just describe it as best you can: "BP near Century III Mall," for instance.)

Also, I realize that the Mon-Yough Gas Gauge is not a scientific survey --- among other things, I don't survey the same stations each week, I pick them depending on where I have to travel Saturday --- but I suspect it's a reasonable guess.

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Incidentally, there is no truth to the rumor that our mascot, the Tube City Tiger (does he have a name?), was so enraged by the cost of filling up his car (I think it's a GTO) that he mauled an attendant at an Exxon station.

First of all, it was a BP station, and second, it wasn't a "mauling." He just took a taste. ("Like chicken," he says.)