Posted on 06/17/2008 6:26:20 AM PDT by Ebenezer
The people of Louisiana made it clear last week that they are adamantly opposed to a massive pay raise for lawmakers.
But the Legislature didn't listen. Lawmakers did give up on the absurd idea of tripling their salary, but they voted instead to double it. Perhaps in their insular world that is what passes for sacrifice.
In the real world, they still look greedy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Pelican State ping
FEMA will pay the difference in tax increases...
Is this saying that a legislator prior to this raise was only bringing in $18K per year?
Doubling the pay is a a massive raise for one time to vote themselves. Does Louisiana have trouble getting people to run for legislature? Are all the people running wealthy? Is a lot of Louisiana's corruption due to low pay, offset by other 'incentives' that encourage corruption? Does the pay raise eliminate these incentives?
Seems there is a lot to this story worth checking into.
Have any of these legislators ever even lived in the real world they're supposed to be representing?
This is the first real test of Bobby J’s governatorship. If he thought that the legislature would simply pass his agenda without a fight he was dreaming. They’re testing him and he’d better show that he can get tough, because it won’t end there.
So, by legislative thinking, they took a 50 percent pay cut, right?
I’ll admit, it doesn’t sound like all that much. The question is: just how much work do they do?
But you have a point, if the real incentive to be a state rep is all in perks and power-trading, then a raise might be a good idea. Provided there’s a quid for this pro quo.
It is unethical for legislators to be voting themselves raises. If they were voting for pay raises for the next elected legislature it would be ethical. However, they are voting for a pay raise for themselves. That is NOT ethical.
So they have taken Louisiana back down from being #1 on the ethics list to being #50 again.
Here is an excerpt of an article which appeared in today’s Times-Picayune (http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1213680009220220.xml&coll=1&thispage=1):
“Under existing law, legislators get $16,800 a year plus a $6,000 unvouchered expense allowance as well as a per diem tied to the federal rate for every day they are in session. The per diem is now $143 a day.
“[Senator Ann] Duplessis [D-New Orleans, who sponsored the bill] said she would have preferred the pay to stand at the original level tied to congressional pay, taking lawmakers from a base pay of $16,800 to $50,700, but said the legislative process is one of compromise and negotiations.
“In the bill, the pay of the Senate president and House speaker will go from $32,000 a year to $71,250, while the pay of the speaker pro tem and the president pro tem will increase from $24,500 to $54,750. When the bill was tied to congressional pay, the presiding officers would have received $76,150 and their deputies would have gotten $59,150.
“The chairmen of the House Appropriations Committee, the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs will go from $16,800 base pay to $54,750.”
To put things into perspective, this year’s Regular Legislative Session convened on March 31 and will adjourn on June 23. That’s roughly three months of full-time legislative work.
Thanks, I knew there had to be more to this.
State legislator is usually a part time job.
So they wanted to give themselves a raise from 6 thousand a month to 18 thousand a month, that puts the pay raise into a different perspective.
You are right. Just wrote Governor Jindal an e-mail, reminding him that he works for us - as does the legislature. The voters are not going to forget this.
They're trying to extort the governor -- pay us or we won't help you pass reforms. What they're missing here is that the governor was elected by the people, and it's OUR reforms that they're threatening.
People in LA are furious about the issue. I can't remember seeing this much anger over an issue involving the legislature. You'd be lucky to find one person in five who even knows the name of their state Representative or Senator. People are learning those names now, though, and there will be a rude awakening for many come election time.
Thank God for that. The fewer days they meet, the less damage they can do.
In Virginia we only give them 60 days to screw up our lives.
Don’t forget to jump on SB543 while you are at it !!!
Looks like the House finally passed it as well. Now it is in ‘Conference Committee’. This is the legislators “get out of responding to the ethics commission” bill for the entire time they are in office.
As in:
“3) Any time other than (1) or (2) above when such person is engaged in activities in connection with or ordered by: (a) the legislature; (b) any legislative committee or subcommittee appointed by the president of the Senate or the speaker of the House of Representatives; (c) any committee or commission appointed by the governor or other person authorized to make such appointments; or (d) any constitutional convention or commission.”
“(2) If the grounds for the motion are pursuant to Paragraph (C)(3), the continuance or extension shall be granted for a period of not less than sixty days from the date the activities giving rise to the need for the continuance or extension cease.”
The Senate voted to grant themselves a 60 day repreive from being required to answer to any other body for ANY out of session legislative act.
All they have to do is schedule one activity every 60 days and they are golden for the entire time they are in office.
This provision was limited by the House. However, now they have to take it to conference committee.
Bet they try to reinstate it!
Meanwhile, in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, both houses of the Legislature approved a bill authorizing a four-year freeze on automatic pay increases for legislators. At least the Governor, who is under indictment on federal corruption charges, has promised to sign the bill.
This is from a local newspaper:
“At present, the basic salary for legislators is $73,775; around $85,000 for [the Senate Vice-President, House Vice-Speaker, and party leaders]; and $110,000 for the [Senate President and House Speaker].
“Legislators receive a stipend for the purchase and maintenance of their vehicles out of public funds. The cost of transportation for the [present] four-year period totals $2.3 million, which does not include official vehicles.
“If the [originally scheduled] 41% salary increase, which is calculated according to the consumer price index, would have gone through, the [Senate President and the House Speaker] would have earned around $136,000; [the Senate Vice-President, House Vice-Speaker, and party leaders] $104,354; and the legislators $90,743.”
The above figures do not include a per diem legislators in the island are granted. Supposedly, the Governor and his party have made a election-campaign promise to eliminate the per diem.
And those Katrina failures wanted to bestow upon themselves a 300% "lagniappe"?
Every SOB who voted in favor of that bill should be impeached and jailed!
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