Now that the state legislature has repealed the controversial pay raise that was voted on at 2 a.m. on July 7, many lawmakers are giving back the extra money they received between the law's mid-summer passage and it's recent repeal.

Giving the money back is the right thing to do.

The pay-raise vote was accomplished in the middle of the night with no advance public discussion and no floor debate among lawmakers.

The language spelling out the pay raise for lawmakers, judges and certain administration officials was inserted into another, unrelated bill that had been moved quietly through the legislature during the previous weeks. The bill started out as a 24-line proposal to limit certain executive branch salaries, but in the hours before it's July 7 passage by the legislature the original text was removed and replaced by a 22-page scheme to dramatically raise salaries of lawmakers, judges and others.

The pay-raise package was largely the creation of collusion between a few legislative leaders and, reportedly, the chief justice of the State Supreme Court Ralph Cappy.

The way it was handled, using a sort of bait-and-switch tactic, was wrong — and clearly violated two provisions of the state constitution. Then, to make matters worse, more than half the state lawmakers chose to take the extra pay right away, rather than waiting until after the next election, as the state constitution requires.

These lawmakers chose to use so-called "unvouchered expenses" — essentially bogus expense reports — to be paid what they would have received if the stealth raise had taken effect immediately.

Last week, state Sen. Bob Robbins, R-50th, vowed to give back every penny of the ill-gotten pay-raise money.

The four-term senator continues to argue that lawmakers are worth the additional pay, but after witnessing the remarkable public outrage over the pay-raise issue, Robbins says he will return the money linked to his unvouched expenses.

Clearly, that's the right thing to do. However, it's not what state Rep. Frank LaGrotta, D-10th, has chosen to do.

LaGrotta, whose district includes small parts of Butler County, said he will not return the $6,000 or so he received through the dubious tactic of unvouchered expenses.

The historic repeal of the pay raise was only the first step in a long list of reforms needed to make elected officials more accountable to voters and more open and transparent in how they do business. Voters must support and elect new lawmakers who pledge to obey the constitution and follow through with reform measures including: pushing for term limits, reducting in the size of the legislature and scaling back lawmakers' fringe benefits so that they are more in line with those of average Pennsylvanians.

A few incumbent lawmakers understand this. But most, including LaGrotta, clearly do not.

Voters sent a message earlier this month in rejecting one state supreme court justice in a normally routine retention vote. The next important step in changing the way Harrisburg works will come in the May primaries, when voters should replace most incumbent lawmakers with people on committed to change.

When the pay raise repeal passed earlier this month, Sen. Joe Conti, R-Bucks, said "I'm glad it's over."

But Conti is wrong. It is not over. Efforts to reform Harrisburg have only begun.