From attorney to musician: Lawmakers work a variety of other jobs

March 31--Tony Bonomo wonders how the state representative whom he is challenging in the Democratic primary in the 119th District, Gerald Mullery, finds time to practice law.

"How can he fulfill his elected duties as representative and maintain his full-time job as an attorney?" Bonomo of West Hazleton asked in a news release.

Mullery replied that he doesn't practice law full time, and he doesn't appear in court.

"I do some part-time work with a law firm --a very technically advanced firm. Everything is paperless, accessible via computer. I don't need to be in the office. There are things I can do at night and on free time," Mullery said.

He isn't the only state lawmaker to occasionally work as a lawyer. In the delegation from Northeastern Pennsylvania, members of the House and Senate reported on financial interest statements that they received income from legal practices, real estate and other businesses. One teaches, and another plays in a band.

Mullery said his limited legal work doesn't interfere with his duties as a lawmaker.

Since entering the Legislature more than three years ago, he said he missed only one voting day in Harrisburg -- and that was because of illness, not because he was doing legal work.

Mullery pointed out that Bonomo, a member of the Hazleton Area School Board, works for the state Auditor General's Office.

"I hope he is aware if he spends one minute of state time campaigning, he faces serious consequences," Mullery said.

Bonomo said he understands the rules and uses personal leave if he has to campaign during normal working hours.

While Mullery now works part time with a law firm, he dissolved Kasper and Mullery, a Kingston law firm in which he had a 50 percent interest, last August, he wrote on a his financial form.

Lawmakers list their sources of income on forms they file yearly with the state Ethics Commission.

Among other legislators from the region, Rep. Tarah Toohil, R-Butler Township, lists a post office box in Drums as the address for her law office.

Toohil said she generally works 15 to 18 hours a day as a state representative so she has little time to practice law.

"I specialize in juvenile cases, mental health cases and drug and alcohol cases. I derive very little income from helping people in this regard as many times I never accept compensation, and I have done a lot of pro-bono cases. Income in recent years was mostly derived from cases I had referred to other attorneys," she said in an email.

Sen. John Gordner, R-Berwick, has been a partner in the law firm of Dickson, Gordner and Hess of Berwick since he entered the Legislature 22 years ago.

In that time, he hasn't appeared in court.

"I probably work one to three hours a week. I limit myself to real estate, estate planning and estate administration," Gordner said. "If I end up meeting with a client, it's usually on a Friday afternoon at 3 or 4 o'clock."

Some Sundays, he works in the law office.

Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, reports no outside income other than a home in Nanticoke that he rents to his sister.

Before entering the Legislature, Yudichak worked as director of development for the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre.

He continues to help the Osterhout and libraries throughout Luzerne County through a charity.

"It's always going to have a special place in my heart," he said.

He formed the Yudichak Family Lighthouse Fund that has given more than $100,000 to public libraries in the past 10 years and pays for summer reading programs.

The fund is contained within the Luzerne Foundation, on which Yudichak serves as an unpaid board member.

On their forms, lawmakers from the region report serving on boards of chambers of commerce, YMCAs, charities and organizations such as the Ben Franklin Technology Partnerships and the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency.

Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, has served on the boards of the United Way and Catholic Youth Center in Wilkes-Barre, but as a source of income he lists his band, The Starfires.

The Starfires first made music together in the 1960s as Eddie Day and TNT. Now Pashinski, who retired as a music teacher before running for the Legislature, said the band only performs a few times a year at reunion dances.

"It's not like it's a regular, weekly engagement. That's impossible for me to do as a state rep," Pashinski said.

While Pashinski holds a second job for fun, he thinks colleagues at the start of their careers tend to keep ties to their previous professions because they could lose their seats in any election.

"Anyone with a young family has to jeopardize that family" every election cycle, Pashinski said. "Some of the young representatives, both male and female, try to hold on to that second position so if they lose, they have something to fall back on."

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