UPDATE (Feb. 14, 2006): At its February meeting, the board of the public interest group Common Cause/PA approved bestowing its Public Service Achievement Award upon the Pay Raise Four -- Eric Epstein, Russ Diamond, Tim Potts, and Eugene Stilp. Brad Nason, the Organization's Vice Chair for Operations, said that "these four men lit a fire of public concern about government that burned hotter than anything we have seen in a generation."
Timothy Potts '71 was one of many Pennsylvanians outraged by the pay raises passed in the dead of night by the state legislature last July. Unlike many people, he didn't just complain about it. Potts was one of a group of activists who kept the issue in the public eye. The criticism eventually forced the legislature to repeal the pay raise last month.
Along with fellow activists Russell Diamond and Eugene Stilp, he was honored for his efforts by The Philadelphia Inquirer. In recognizing them as citizens of the year, the paper noted that "more than any other citizen-activists, these three orchestrated the grassroots revolt that forced state lawmakers to repeal their sleazy pay raise."
A Carlisle resident and former legislative staffer, Potts had been director of the Pennsylvania School Reform Network, working to improve funding for public education. In 2004, he helped found the group Democracy Rising PA., a coalition working for integrity in state government.
"A lot of my zeal comes from my conviction that the legislature is not serving the people," Potts told the Inquirer.
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