Daryl Metcalfe - "I will continue to be a servant of the people...."

Instead of a borrowed horse, Metcalfe and his small but dedicated staff ride the phone lines and the Internet into the night in the effort to warn state representatives in all 50 states of the impending danger and urge them to join the effort to protect the American people against this foreign invasion that is undermining our national security and draining our resources. The legislators who have joined him have pledged to get the job done at the state and local level by cutting off all economic incentives to these invaders. Presently, lawmakers from 25 state legislatures have signed on as pioneer members of State Legislators for Legal Immigration

It's not only a time-consuming task, but there is absolutely no economic incentive for Metcalfe. Imagine that! Metcalfe is an Army veteran who spent two years defending the border between East and West Germany during the Cold War, and he is appalled that the federal government will not defend our borders against invaders armed with little more than the clothes on their backs. To say we cannot defend our borders is disingenuous at the very least.

Through the efforts of Rep. Metcalfe and others, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a joint concurrent resolution calling on President George W. Bush and the United States Congress to secure our borders and protect American citizens from the dangers of unlawful invasion and illegal immigration. Late last year, it was sent to members of the Pennsylvania delegation in Washington and to the White House. What was the result? It was completely ignored!

Metcalfe and his legislative colleagues then redoubled their efforts. In March, they introduced the National Security Begins at Home package, which contains five new bills designed to shut off employment access and other economic faucets that have been luring illegal aliens to their state.

While the president and members of Congress missed the message voters were trying to send in the 2006 election, state legislators got that message loud and clear. In 2007, 1,169 illegal-immigration reform bills and resolutions have been introduced in the 50 states, more than double the number for all of last year. Fifty-seven of those reform measures already have been enacted.

Metcalfe's counterpart in the Arizona Legislature is Rep. Russell Pearce, a charter member of State Legislators for Legal Immigration. The actions of Sen. Kyl left him perplexed and caused dozens of Republicans in his state to change their party affiliation in disgust.

Ironically, any meaningful reform legislation Pearce could get through his state legislature would be vetoed by Democrat Gov. Janet Napolitano. Therefore, he has worked tirelessly to get a series of reform measures on the ballot, which have been overwhelmingly approved by voters. More are in progress.

Kyl was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 as a staunch conservative and a strong advocate for border security and true immigration reform. During that campaign, Kyl was asked for his definition of amnesty. It was this: "Any bill that allows those who enter this country illegally to remain in the U.S." The bill Kyl just brokered would do just that.

Want to know why Kyl and his comrades have named their new visa for illegals the "Z" visa? "It's as far away from the 'A' word as they can get," Pearce quipped. "I call it 'zamnesty.'"

It's no secret why the president went after Kyl to broker a compromise, but why did Kyl acquiesce? Was he promised a Supreme Court nomination should another vacancy occur? What about the attorney general's post? We will have to wait and see.

Yes, there are many things that can turn the heads of powerful U.S. senators but state representatives are much closer to voters and much more likely to feel your pain. State Legislator for Legal Immigration has identified the problems and offered real solutions. It represents a 21st century Declaration of Independence. Go to statelegislatorsforlegalimmigration.com to see if your state legislators have signed on.

Lawmakers' proposal takes aim at illegal immigrants

HARRISBURG - Take away jobs and public assistance and illegal immigrants will go back where they came from. That's what four House members are hoping as they introduce a package of bills aimed at protecting Pennsylvania from what they called "an illegal immigrant invasion."

Illegal immigrants sap public resources, disrespect laws, drain tax dollars and engage in violent crime, said the foursome led by state Rep. Darryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry.

Mr. Metcalfe and Reps. Mark Mustio, R-Moon; Tom Creighton, R-Lancaster County and Scott Perry, R-York County, explained their bills during a press conference today.

Representative Daryl Metcalfe Presents House Resolution Honoring President Reagan to President's son, Michael Reagan

Representative Daryl Metcalfe presents Michael Reagan with an official copy of the PA House Resolution declaring February 6, 2007 as Ronald Reagan Day in Pennsylvania. The presentation was made during the first annual Center for Vision and Values Ronald Reagan Lecture Series at Grove City College.

For five consecutive years, Representative Daryl Metcalfe has passed his resolution honoring America's 40th President, and promoting Ronald Reagan's legacy of liberty and freedom.

Butler County Republicans have ripped Gov. Ed Rendell's proposed budget that calls for a boost in the state sales tax and adds new levies on tobacco and oil companies.

These GOP legislators vowed to fight the governor's $27.3 billion spending plan. "The governor has once again proposed increased spending and increased debt that would result in higher taxes," said state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th.

...Rendell is seeking a new gross-profits tax of more than 6 percent on oil companies' windfall profits. The new revenue would help finance struggling mass transit agencies across Pennsylvania. "This is an old tactic to drum up support by going after businesses that happen to show a profit," Metcalfe said. "But nobody believes that the tax won't be passed on to the consumer at the gas pump."

....Metcalfe said the Republican caucus in the House is unified in its opposition to Rendell's budget. "The only good thing about the governor's proposal is that it's only a proposal," he said, "and not a budget until the General Assembly says it's a budget."

Republicans find Rendell's budget too taxing

Governor's plan would increase sales, tobacco and business levies

,,,,Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, called the plan "the same old story from Gov. Rendell, higher taxes and higher spending." He said the oil company profits tax "is another shell game by the governor. Taxpayers will ultimately bear the costs in higher gasoline prices at the pump."...

….State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, (stated that) pension limits have to be put on new state workers. He is concerned with the increasing number of workers who have qualified for expanded benefits in the past five years.

"We have piecemeal legislation allowing new groups into this expansion … we can't continue in this direction," he said. He wants any expansion of benefits to be frozen.

He said the pension increase was originally an attempt to even out the difference in pension plans between judges and legislators. “At the time many of legislators were wanting to catch up with the courts," said Metcalfe.

He said judges in the state qualify for 4 percent of their salary per year of service.
"So a judge who works for 25 years would have a 100 percent (of their salary) pension," said Metcalfe.

He said it would have been better to bring the courts pensions down to the legislature levels, but pensions cannot be reduced once promised.

Metcalfe said what is needed are sweeping changes to the government's retirement system, and he suggested something more in line with what the private sector provides.

But such reform would be a mammoth undertaking, he said. After all, it would affect state, school, county and municipal workers.

"Hopefully, this pending potential for financial disaster will be enough to wake up some of my colleagues (in the Legislature). The message is there: If you don't address these problems there could be a real disaster," said Metcalfe.

GOING PRIVATE

...The leader of privatization efforts nationally is Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who made headlines last summer for completing a $3.8 billion lease deal with a European-Australian partnership for the Indiana Toll Road.

Other opponents are concerned that most of the highway lease deals in North America have been led by overseas consortiums, as was the Indiana deal.

"I don't think it's wise to let foreign-based firms have operational control over any type of public infrastructure like this," said state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler. Metcalfe said he'd be more likely to support a privatization deal if it had American investors.

A state transportation report released last week recommends tax increases to improve the state's deteriorating roads, bridges and mass-transit systems, but it is not popular with officials in Butler County.......

"I will be opposing any tax increase," said state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th. "There's plenty of money in the general fund budget. Pennsylvania state government taxes us at an excessive rate already. The key to dealing with infrastructure costs is for our state government to set proper priorities. That's what every family has to do."

Metcalfe complained the state spends too much on "museums, parties, grants, pork barrel type projects" plus professional sports stadiums for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

"People in Butler County shouldn't have to pay for other peoples' mass transit," he said.
Metcalfe said raising taxes is counter productive.

"It will continue to drive young people and jobs out of Pennsylvania," he said. "The only way we're going to restore Pennsylvania's economy is reduce the tax rates."

"I think it's very telling this report was released a week after the election," Metcalfe said.

Daryl Metcalfe and Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta Address Immigration Reform Rally

On October 11th, State Representative Daryl Metcalfe and Hazelton Mayor Lou Barletta addressed an Immigration Reform Rally at the Greentree Radisson Hotel near Pittsburgh.

State Representative Metcalfe is leading the fight against the illegal Immigration problem and has proposed a viable set of solutions These include solutions to secure our border and turn off the "economic faucets" so that current illegal aliens will leave on their own.

This last summer, State Representative Metcalfe spearheaded House Republican Committee meetings on Illegal Immigration.

Gun License for Domestic Violence Victims 'Dangerous,' Group Says
By Kate Monaghan
CNSNews.com Correspondent
October 06, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - Legislation pending in Pennsylvania seeks to provide victims of domestic violence with a temporary emergency license to carry a firearm "to make sure that they're able to defend themselves," according to State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, sponsor of the bill.

However, a spokeswoman for a state domestic violence coalition called the measure "dangerous, absolutely dangerous."

Metcalfe (R-Butler) told Cybercast News Service that not only would this measure aid domestic violence victims in protecting themselves, but overall, it would decrease violence.

"Giving that person [the victim] the ability to protect themselves is going to ultimately be a great help to preventing violence," he said.

"Under House Bill 2946, any individual who can demonstrate evidence of imminent danger to themselves or a member of their family would be entitled to a temporary emergency license to carry a firearm after passing a computerized background check of criminal history, juvenile delinquency and mental health records," Metcalfe noted.

"The temporary license would be good for 90 days to allow sufficient time to apply for a regular license to carry a firearm and undergo the potential 45-day waiting period under current state law," Metcalfe's office said in a press release.

According to Metcalfe, this legislation would also protect witnesses to crimes.

"[For] the emergency carry permit, I think the majority of people applying for it would be people that would be applying for it because they have sought out protection from abuse or that they potentially may be a witness to a crime in which the criminal is out on bail making threats against that potential witness," said Metcalfe.

"My legislation is based on one very simple concept: Lives are saved when law-abiding citizens are provided with every means necessary to defend themselves against violent criminals," Metcalfe added.

The July 2005 judicial pay raise upheld by the state Supreme Court -- while the justices struck down the pay-jacking for lawmakers and top state officials -- contains a money bomb.

If it explodes, state judges will be showered with another flurry of dollars. They'd get a second raise, tied to a proposed salary bump for federal judges.

Under the pay-jacking law, the salaries of Common Pleas Court judges first increased from $135,293 to $149,132. The second raise would take them to $173,738. Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy's salary would skyrocket to $206,000.

Lawmakers are lining up behind state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, to right this wrong.

Mr. Metcalfe would roll back judicial salaries to pre-July 2005 levels each time a seat is filled by a new judge or a judge wins re-election or retention. The high court ruled that once increased, a judge's salary may not be reduced during his term of office.

But Metcalfe's measure should not be necessary. Not only was the pay-jacking unconstitutional, setting the salaries of state officeholders is a duty of the Legislature. It does not have the constitutional authority to strip itself of that obligation by tying pay to federal scales.

Were fealty to the law the standard, the Supreme Court's record would earn it a pay cut.

Firearms owners go on the offensive

By Michael Vitez

Inquirer Staff Writer

About 300 of them from around Pennsylvania roamed the Capitol encouraging legislators to oppose any new laws limiting the right to own and bear arms.

They were steadfast: crime is Philadelphia's problem, caused by Philadelphians, and any new laws to restrict the sale of guns won't solve it.

The only solution, they said, is to crack down on criminals, enforce existing laws, and end what one gun supporter called "Philadelphia's catch and release program."

.......Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler) issued a statement opposing some of the main proposals being considered by the House Committee of the Whole, including limiting gun sales to one a month, and a ban on semiautomatic firearms. Metcalfe said guns were not the problem.

"This cultural problem is the breakdown of the family and the subsequent absence of positive parental influences and supervision in children's lives," he said. "... Absent fathers, financial hardship and lack of meaningful parental influence and availability in children's lives are a disastrous formula for social unrest and violence." .........

Judge pay irks state lawmakers

By Debra Erdley and Brad Bumsted
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Pennsylvania lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are moving to blunt the impact of a recent state Supreme Court pay raise ruling amid mounting speculation that state judges could claim two big pay raises this year.

The Supreme Court on Sept. 14 reinstated 11 to 15 percent raises for about 1,100 judges, saying the legislature had no authority to repeal the increases given sitting judges. The ruling also left open the possibility that state judges could get a second raise, because the legislation called for linking state judges' salaries to those in the federal court system, where a 16.5 percent pay raise is pending.

The state pay increase law takes the salary of a Common Pleas court judge from $135,293 to $149,132. If the federal raise is added on top of that, the salary for that judge would go to $173,738 -- a $38,445 jump. The salary of Ralph Cappy, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court, would go to about $206,000.

Lawmakers, who buckled to public outcry last November when they repealed their own raises as well as the judges', were irate.

On Monday, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, introduced a bill to reduce judicial pay to July 2005 levels -- the $135,293 level for common pleas judges -- every time a judge begins a new term. Nine Democrats were among Metcalfe's 32 initial cosponsors. Republican and Democratic senators also are supporting the bill.

"If this congressional pay raise (for federal judges) goes through and determines compensation of our judges, they will be the highest (paid) in the nation," said Matthew Brouilette, of the Commonwealth Foundation.

Cappy initially sought to link state judicial pay to federal scales, arguing that would eliminate politics.

Now, the Sept. 14 Supreme Court decision, from which Cappy abstained, has thrust the issue back into the political arena.

"Inflating their own wallets at the expense of the Pennsylvania taxpayers and the integrity of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which they have sworn an oath to uphold and defend, is nothing short of tyranny," Metcalfe said............

Lawmaker tries new tack to roll back judge raises

HARRISBURG -- State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, isn't giving up the fight to cancel pay raises for judges.

Despite a state Supreme Court ruling last week reinstating the raises for 1,045 state judges, Mr. Metcalfe said today he is seeking co-sponsors for a new bill aimed at repealing the judges' raises, although he admits it will take up to 10 years to do it.

He said his bill would return the salary of each member of the judicial branch to the level it was at on July 1, 2005 -- before Act 44, the pay raise, was enacted on July 7, 2005.

Judges would keep their current higher salaries, as permitted by last week's court decision. However, once a judge was re-elected or retained in a 10-year retention election, that judge's salary would revert to where it was on July 1, 2005.

Mr. Metcalfe said the Legislature isn't allowed to reduce a judge's salary in mid-term, but he contended his new bill doesn't do that.

For example, he said, Supreme Court Justice Thomas Saylor faces a retention election in November 2007. If he wins, his salary would revert to what is was on July 1, 2005, prior to the pay-raise bill being approved.

The pay-raise bill covered all three branches of government, legislators, judges and some members of the executive branch. The raises for all three branches were canceled in November 2005. The Supreme Court last week restored raises for only the judges.

It isn't known yet if the Legislature would vote on Mr. Metcalfe's bill before it adjourns Nov. 30.

HARRISBURG — ..... State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, said the court's decision is unconstitutional. His immediate reaction to the news was "outrage."

"We as legislators are allowed to reduce the salaries of judges if it's a broad-based reduction," Metcalfe said. "This was across-the-board. I voted against the original pay raise and led the repeal effort.

He said the court's decision was a "clear example of a lack of integrity of the courts where they believe they're above and beyond the reach of the people."

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