State Rep. Rosita Youngblood is suing her party's leadership over how much money she is given to run her office.

"Hi. You have reached State Representative Rosita C. Youngblood's office. The office is now open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 12 to 4, and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 to 1. We are unavailable to take your call at this time, so please leave us a message and we will get back to you."

This is the message that greets constituents of Germantown's State Rep. Youngblood when they call her local office during what, for the rest of us, is normal business hours.

So why is Youngblood's office closed more hours than it's open? Is this a case of a lazy incumbent in an uncompetitive district? Hardly. According to Youngblood, the reason her office is rarely open is inadequate funding from party honchos who can't stand her independent voting record.

In October, Youngblood filed a civil suit against her Democratic Party leaders, Representatives H. William DeWeese and Michael R. Veon, the party leader and house whip respectively. The suit alleges that the constitutional rights of Youngblood's constituents are being violated by the leadership's failure to provide adequate funding to staff her district office. "My constituents are being denied their constitutional right to representation," says Youngblood.

In the statehouse, party leaders are charged with the task of distributing funds for district offices. The money provides salaries and benefits for staffers. Distribution is largely based on seniority. But Youngblood, who has served in the house since 1994, receives only $40,000 for the whole Germantown office -- less money than average, though not quite at the bottom of the pack. Youngblood says she is being low-balled to punish her for voting her conscience on key votes against the wishes of party bosses.

The representative also says there are troubling patterns in how the money is doled out when the figures are analyzed based on region, race and gender. Those who share the leadership's backgrounds -- white men from Western Pennsylvania -- tend to do best, according to Youngblood.

Youngblood maintains that Democratic leaders have been making life difficult for her for a long time. Four years ago, Youngblood, who had already served two terms, had her committee assignments changed. Leadership put her on the Agriculture Committee. "I was taken off of Consumer and Finance and put onto Agriculture. Do I have any farms [in my district]?" she asks rhetorically. "Agriculture was a punishment assignment."

This year, her relationship with the Democratic leadership soured even more. Youngblood defied DeWeese and Veon on an important budget vote and was one of only three Philadelphia statehouse Democrats who refused to sign a letter endorsing Bob Casey Jr. in the gubernatorial primary. Casey was the favorite of the party establishment, but Youngblood says she "supported Ed Rendell wholeheartedly."

Since the budget cuts, it has become nearly impossible for Youngblood to staff her Germantown office because she can't afford to offer her employees health benefits.

"What does it look like when you're a state rep and you're telling people to go to the welfare office for benefits?" she asks, saying that she did just that to a staffer who subsequently left the office.

C. Lynette Walls, who worked for Youngblood for 10 months, left last March, when her husband was laid off, leaving her without benefits. "I needed benefits. I'm 47 years old," she says. "For this to be government [work, not having health benefits] was just a travesty."

According to Youngblood's suit, when Walls quit, the Democratic leadership first approved, but then rescinded, permission to hire a replacement through a temp agency. Since then, Youngblood has relied on college student interns, though she laments that during final exam period none of them can make it to the office. "I'll have to call Villanova and get them to send some more" next semester, she says.

Representatives DeWeese and Veon declined to comment on the dispute, though their Philadelphia-based attorney, Danielle Banks of Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, was willing to discuss the case.

"Young has, in essence, complained that she's not getting enough money," says Banks. "Those issues, by and large, are not issues for the courts to decide but for the legislature to decide." Banks made a motion to dismiss the case, which is currently pending before a federal judge.

Anthony Cianfrani, who represents Youngblood, agrees that, in general, courts are wary of butting into the internal affairs of the legislature under the doctrine of "absolute legislative immunity," meant to guarantee the independence of the branch of government. But this case, he says, is different.

"They have absolute immunity when they're acting in a legislative capacity. Here it would seem that the doling out of the money is more of an administrative function." And since starving Youngblood of funds violates her constituents' rights, Cianfrani argues, the court must intervene.