WAMs

Since the 1970's, Pennsylvania lawmakers have claimed an increasing amount of the state budget for what were nicknamed WAMs, which stands for Walking Around Money. In 1995, after the state Supreme Court upheld a unanimous Commonwealth Court ruling that declared WAMs to be unconstitutional, WAMs were re-named Legislative Initiative Grants.

But they're still WAMs, and they're still illegal because they violate multiple sections of the Constitution, just as they did in the 1990's. Now amounting to as much as $750 million a year in the state budget, WAMs are granted through a secret process that doesn't allow citizens to know how decisions are made about who got the money, for what purpose and why others who are equally in need of state funds and equally deserving of them received nothing.

Earlier in 2009, two former lawmakers illustrated other problems with WAMs. Former Sen. Vince Fumo, D-Phila., was convicted of 137 felonies, which included channeling millions of dollars in WAMs through a local non-profit organization and using the money illegally for personal and political gain. Later in the year, former Rep. Mike Veon, D-Beaver, was accused of much the same.

On September 1, 2009, Democracy Rising PA held a news conference in the capitol. We released letters to the governor, auditor general, attorney general, state treasurer and legislative leaders. The letters asked each of these constitutional officers to obey the Supreme Court's 1995 decision and refuse to authorize any grants that are designated by lawmakers in violation of the Constitution. The letter to the auditor general also asked him to require the return of the funds to state taxpayers.

Click here for the letters to public officials.
Click here for the news release about the September 1 news conference.
Click here for the legal memo describing why WAMs are unconstitutional.
Click here for a statement by DR Board Chair Mark Widoff, Esq.
Click here for a statement by DR President Tim Potts.