It's been a while since I blogged. I was wrapped up in a special project -- which is running Jan. 4. Keep an eye out for it. It's gonna be awesome!

I just got off the phone with a woman who saw my story about hotels and motels in York County getting booked up in advance of the Obama inauguration. She has a big house, she's thinking of renting out rooms to boarders and she wanted some advice on how to get started.

I referred her to the York County Convention and Visitors Bureau, as my knowledge of putting up boarders pretty much begins and ends with letting drunk people crash on my apartment floor.

I feel it's really important to get this out.

Michael Johnson is the name of the York County Democratic Party's chairman.

You may have read in our paper about the search for an alleged serial rapist from Penn Township named Michael L. Johnson Jr.

I cannot state this emphatically enough. IT IS NOT THE SAME GUY!

I mention this because some people have apparently been sending in e-mails asking why the York Daily Record doesn't mention this fugitive's leadership of the local Democratic Party.

Why? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T EXIST!

I just took a closer look at my e-mail. It looks like state Sen. Mike Waugh, a Republican who represents most of York County, won't be taking his cost-of-living adjustment either. Here's the news release:

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-25), Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-9), Majority Whip Jane Orie (R-40), Appropriations Committee Chairman Jake Corman (R-34), Caucus Chairman Mike Waugh (R-28), and Caucus Secretary Bob Robbins (R-50) today announced that they would not accept the annual COLA, instead returning the money to the state Treasury.

"As we have said consistently, everything is on the table in terms of spending cuts as we address the state budget deficit," said Senator Scarnati. "Government must live within its means, and this announcement is part of our commitment to do exactly that."

Senator Pileggi said he will personally introduce a bill to officially suspend the COLA for legislators.

"We congratulate the House Democratic leaders for their decision," said Senator Pileggi. "Now, we call on them to embrace additional initiatives which will cut costs and make government operations more transparent."

In early 2007, Senate Republican leaders pushed to cut legislative reserves by at least $75 million. To date, that idea has not been supported by House Democratic leaders.

In October 2007, the Senate unanimously passed a bill (SB 986) sponsored by Sen. John Eichelberger (R-30) to prohibit bonuses for state employees. That bill died in the House Appropriations Committee.

In June 2008, the Senate unanimously passed a bill (SB 1499) sponsored by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-48) to tighten the restrictions on the use of state vehicles. The House State Government Committee never voted on this bill.

And in July 2008, the Senate unanimously passed a bill (SB 903) sponsored by Sen. Orie to eliminate "pinstripe patronage" in the awarding of state contracts. That legislation was also never considered by the House State Government Committee.

"These are common-sense reforms that will make a real difference in terms of saving taxpayer money," Senator Pileggi said. "We plan to consider these bills - and other reform initiatives - in early 2009 and hope that the newly apparent spirit of reform in the House Democratic leaders will lead them to do the same."

In recent years, appropriations to the Senate have declined significantly, dropping from $108.3 million in fiscal year 2005-06 to $101.8 million in fiscal year 2008-09, a decrease of more than 6 percent.

The actual number of employees in the Senate Republican Caucus has been reduced from 452 in January 2006 to 413, a decrease of 8.6 percent.

"Cutting costs is an ongoing commitment for us," said Senator Scarnati. "We will continue to look for ways to save money."

Here's a news release from Euegene DePasquale, recently re-elected state representative from the 95th district.

As you may recall, Euegene was elected in 2006 as part of an influx of reform candidates, at a time when a lot of Pennsylvanians were still pretty sore over the previous year's legislative pay raise (since rescinded).

Looks like Eugene's still cognizant of that as well. Anyway, here's the news release:

State Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, today released his final expenses for his freshman term of office, 2007-08.

DePasquale said he will return a total of $22,185.44 to the state treasury for expenses not incurred during his first legislative term. Further, following suit of the House Democratic leaders and in light of current economic woes, DePasquale also said he will return the state-mandated cost-of-living allowance for 2009.

"When I took my oath two years ago, I made a promise not to squander or over-collect taxpayer-funded expenses," DePasquale said. "I'm pleased to be sending money back to the treasury, because we kept expenses low, and I have made efforts to even further reduce operating costs in my next term."

DePasquale said changes he's made for the 2009-10 term include the purchase of office equipment to replace rentals, a cost of nearly $180 a month. A one-time purchase of office furniture (approximately $300) will replace a two-year rental expense totaling $4,145.76. In an effort to reduce potentially wasteful postage, DePasquale said he also purchased a scale to weigh mail in the office.

Yesterday, House Democratic leaders called for all members to forego the cost-of-living increase, and DePasquale said House Democrats support cuts to the General Assembly appropriations and are trimming costs in other ways, such as banning out-of-state travel and reviewing hiring policies.

DePasquale was the first local legislator to publicly post his quarterly expenses online. They are viewable at his Web site, www.pahouse.com/DePasquale.

OK, that Thanksgiving greeting is just a couple of days early. But since I'm working a shift on Saturday, I found out that I have to take tomorrow off. (All right! All right! Quit twisting my arm! Geez!) So between Thanksgiving and my regular day off Friday, I guess my work week is done.

I plan to spend those three days deleting all of the e-mails stacked up in my in-box during the presidential campaign. I got plenty from the John McCain, Ron Paul and Ralph Nader campaigns. But I think I got twice as many from the Barack Obama campaign than all of the others combined.

I just got an e-mail suggesting that the only reason Democrats supported Barack Obama in the presidential race is because he's black.

Yeah, right.

Remember the huge groundswell of support from white Democrats in response to Jesse Jackson's bid for the presidency? How about Al Sharpton's?

Funny, neither do I.

There was some news today regarding state Sen. Mike Waugh, R-Shrewsbury, who represents most of York County. A news release from his office explains it.