Letters to the Editor | Dec. 7, 2025

Pennsylvania’s lawmakers, after delivering a budget 135 days late, received an automatic 3.25% pay raise last week. This annual pay raise is mandated by law and is based on the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). Most Pennsylvania lawmakers will go from $110,000 a year to more than $113,500 a year, which is over double the national average for state legislators. This raise keeps Pennsylvania legislators ranked third in the country, behind only New York and California.

What’s worse is the culture of corruption in Harrisburg. There are no limits on how much lobbyists can use to bribe Pennsylvania public officials. It is also legal for our state legislators to hold side jobs. And there’s a “revolving door” in which former public officials accept lobbying jobs they have an official relationship with. This all creates a conflict of interest that damages the public trust.

While public officials enrich themselves, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is still at $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum. Meanwhile, California’s minimum wage is $16.00 per hour, and New York’s minimum wage is $15.00. If our lawmakers are ranked third in pay, shouldn’t our workers be, as well? The average American worker’s wages have gone up only 0.5%, while an affordability crisis affects workers of all kinds. Costs are rising in categories like housing, food, childcare, healthcare, car insurance, and utility bills. Everyday Pennsylvanians need a raise, not elected officials.

Jayson Massey, Philadelphia, jayson.massey@gmail.com

Hats off to City Council President Kenyatta Johnson for his leadership in defining and defending Philadelphia’s housing priorities. By standing up for the poorest among us, particularly those without any home at all, he’s appealing to the better angels in all of us, including the mayor.

Heidi George, Philadelphia

As a lifelong connoisseur of classical music — ever since I was a kid watching Leonard Bernstein on TV Sunday nights in the 1960s — I learned early that one never applauds until all the movements are done. So at the Nov. 30 Philadelphia Orchestra concert, when some folks clapped after the third of five movements in Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, and again after the first of three in Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, I braced for a well-earned scolding from conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin (as he does when folks don’t silence their cell phones).

Instead, he faced us like a cool uncle. After the first interruption, he smiled, held up two fingers, and gently reminded us, “But there are two more.” After the second, he flashed a broad grin and conceded, “Yes, that was good.”

Then it struck me: This “uncouth” applause simply means new listeners are discovering classical music — and discovering the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Moments like these confirm it: Nézet-Séguin is the Bernstein of our age — brilliant, generous, and able to relate to us with joy. Bravo.

Rosamond Kay, Philadelphia

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