Replies

Seize the pay... of bloated hacks
Carpe per diem!
By Howie Carr | Sunday, December 7, 2008 | http://www.bostonherald.com

So it’s up to Gov. Deval Patrick to decide how much of a pay raise the Legislature gets next month.

Forget the bogus mathematical formulas, Gov - give the solons the hike they so richly deserve.

Nothing. Zero. Nada. The goose egg. The doughnut. Bupkes.

According to the law - admittedly, a laughable word to use when discussing the Legislature - the solons must get a raise based on the previous year’s “median household income” in the state.

Most people who don’t have hack jobs took a pounding this year. But the actual 2008 income stats won’t be available for months. So the governor and his Payroll Charlies who make the call have to . . . wing it.

On second thought, Deval, don’t just freeze the legislators’ pay. Cut it. Make them feel our pain.

I’m not saying every solon is a drunken, corrupt buffoon. It’s that 90 percent that give the other 10 percent such a bad rap. Wilkerson, Marzilli, DiMasi, Rogers, Spellane - it’s been another banner year for ethics on Beacon Hill, yes?

Already these dolts are paid a base of $58,237.15, plus “bonuses” for their alleged roles in “leadership.” Every year more and more of these bums get bought off with that extra $7,500 that can be removed at the whim of the speaker, who also grabs an extra $35,000.

But there’s more. All the reps who live more than 50 miles from Beacon Hill - a third of them - get to take more than $150 a day off their federal income taxes for every day the Legislature is in session. This is why they so seldom adjourn. It would require them to pay taxes like the rest of us do.

And don’t forget another cash perk, their “per diems,” the money they collect for showing up to work each day (or just saying they do, on their cheat sheets).

The per-diem rate goes up the further you live from the State House. If you live in Boston or Somerville, you get $10 a day. Weymouth is $18, Worcester is $36, and so on, all the way up to $100 for Nantucket.

Do you get paid extra for actually showing up at your job? I didn’t think so. So far this year, Rep. Dan Bosley has collected $15,390 just in per diems. In second place is Rep. Denis Guyer, with $10,824.

But wait, it gets better. Some of these statesmen are collecting per diems, then charging their traveling expenses to their campaign committees. In the real world, that’s called “double-dipping.”

What a great country. They get a pay raise, and their constituents get to pay $7.50 every time they drive through the harbor tunnels. And the guy who gets to make the call on how much extra the reps get is Deval Patrick, who in 2006 promised everyone he would cut their property taxes - how much has your bill gone down?

Bah, humbug!
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1137371