Lawrence Roberts (politician)

Lawrence "Larry" Roberts is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

Roberts attended Uniontown High School, graduating in 1959.[4] He attended the Community College of the Air Force and Bowie State College before earning a master's at Central Michigan University in 1981.[4]

Roberts was first elected to represent the 51st legislative district in 1992.[4] The Herald-Standard newspaper sued in 2000 to gain access to Roberts's cellular and long-distance phone records, citing the fact that the calls were paid for with state money.[5] The suit was dismissed, but in 2003 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania to reconsider whether a Herald-Standard reporter's civil rights were violated when Roberts showed the sought-after phone records to another reporter, but not to the original reporter.[5] The full case was dismissed in 2006.[5]

He retired prior to the 2006 election. Activists had targeted him because of his support for the controversial 2005 legislative pay raise[6] Roberts accepted the optional "unvouchered expense account" money, which were used by the legislature to "skirt a [constitutional] prohibition on midterm raises."[7]