| abstract | - Even though Westmoreland County state Rep. Jess Stairs is calling it quits after 32 years, it doesn't mean he's done squandering state tax dollars. Residents of the Acme Republican's 59th District recently received a glossy, photograph-filled newsletter -- all at taxpayers' expense, of course -- highlighting Stairs' life. There are numerous photographs of Stairs -- one shaking the hand of House Speaker Dennis O'Brien, a Philadelphia Republican, and another (of guess who?) speaking at a recent gathering of vocational educators where he was honored. Of course, there's no mention in the gushy newsletter of Stairs' inaction on the 2005 legislative pay hike. Although he voted against it, he was roundly criticized for not using his leadership role to fight it. And as his legislative colleagues scrambled to control damage from the issue, Stairs decided to accept the raise with the intention of donating the money to charity. Pushed by the public outcry, he changed his mind and stopped taking the unvouchered expenses. Records show that he repaid the state treasury the money he had collected. Last year, Stairs, who had served as a board member of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency since 1991, was among that agency's legislative members who came under fire for lavish spending, including junkets paid for by the college loan agency. Also, reports disclosed that Stairs and his wife, Joan, were regulars between 2000 and 2005 on eight retreats at resorts that included Nemacolin Woodlands in Fayette County, The Greenbrier in West Virginia and Meadowood in California's Napa Valley. Stairs reimbursed the agency for some of the expenses incurred. Maybe photographs from those junkets will be contained in his taxpayer-funded fall newsletter.
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