Robert C. Jubelirer, R-Blair, president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, shouldn't have scolded Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll for allowing a parrot to sing "How much is that doggie in the window?" from a Senate visitors' balcony Tuesday.

At least the parrot sang in the light of day, unlike the way Jubelirer helps shepherd controversial legislation — such as lawmaker pay raises — to a vote in the middle of the night, without prior public notice or debate.

The parrot wasn't in Harrisburg to embarrass lawmakers or to demean the image of the General Assembly's upper chamber. Perhaps even the parrot — or at least its handler — is aware that many of the lawmakers in the state Senate and House can't be matched in their ability to achieve those unflattering results, with troubling regularity.

Actually, the parrot was in the state capitol with Pittsburgh Aviary staff as part of a campaign to update lawmakers about aviary expansion plans and ask for state money for the project. According to the Associated Press, the parrot sang in a warbling, croaking voice for several minutes from the visitors' balcony in question after being formally recognized by Knoll, who presides over the Senate.

Maybe Jubelirer's objection to the parrot's singing was due to agitation over being upstaged on the principle of open government.

Jubelirer wasn't previously upstaged by a bird from the aviary because, in the past, when aviary staff members have visited the legislature with one of their flock, demonstrations of the birds' talents were in senators' offices or meeting rooms, not on the Senate floor.

"In my seven years, it's never happened on the Senate floor," said Sen. Jake Corman, R-Centre. "I assume no harm was meant."

Jubelirer ought to "lighten up" and be agitated about things that really matter — like lawmakers giving themselves excessive pay raises and then violating the state constitution by taking the raises immediately, rather than waiting until after the next legislative election.

Of course, Jubelirer is a big part of the problem in Harrisburg's governmental chambers, so things like that don't bother him.

If there are any grounds for faulting the parrot's presence, it should be for the bird not improvising the "doggie" lyrics to reflect what really goes on under the capitol dome.

Jubelirer then could have been excused for being unhappy.