PITTSBURGH - With the May primary only days away, the entire membership of the Pennsylvania General Assembly held a noontime rally on the steps of the Post-Gazette Building downtown today demanding the removal of longtime Post-Gazette columnist and Brian O’Neill. O’Neill has been a frequent critic of the General Assembly.Speaker of the House John Perzel addressed the crowd of four hundred and thirty five legislators and exhorted them to take action against O'Neill, the individual many representatives hold responsible for the firestorm of negative publicity surrounding the controversial “pay raise” passed by the General Assembly in the wee hours of the morning last July. The pay raise was subsequently repealed, but outraged representatives haven’t forgotten.
“We are here to send a message today that we will no longer accept this kind of behavior as business as usual!” screamed Perzel. “To do nothing in the face of these kinds of attacks from O’Neill is an affront to the dignity of every member of the House and Senate, assuming we have any.”
Perzel urged General Assembly members to go back to Harrisburg determined to contact residents of their district and ask them to write letters to the editor of the Post-Gazette urging that O’Neill be removed. He also said they should request their constituents call talk shows to vent about what he called O'Neill’s “obscene publicity grab” at the expense of the General Assembly.
“Let’s throw the bum out!” said Perzel, to a raucous cheer from his colleagues.
