In the middle of a July night last summer, the cowards we call state legislators voted to increase their own wages by between 16 and 54 percent, making them the second highest paid legislators in the nation ("Senate repeals pay raise law," Nov. 3). They thought they could hide from their constituents under the cover of darkness, but the loud public outcry has the legislators fearing for their jobs.

Thinking that the principles of representative democracy can be discarded at their leisure, many legislators have refused to tell their constituents how they voted on the issue.

The state minimum wage has not been raised in nearly a decade. Since it is not adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage buys less and less with each passing year. It is time to think of Pennsylvania's working poor -- citizens who obviously lack representation in Harrisburg. The gradual pay cut endured by the working poor because of inflation must be stopped.

Our representatives took unfair advantage to raise their own wages to beat inflation without consent or oversight. We should use this opportunity to force the embattled and frightened state legislators to give Pennsylvania's workers the raise they deserve.