Free Republic

America Needs a Take-Home Pay Raise by Newt Gingrich (more by this author) Posted 07/29/2009 ET It’s a frustration I hear all the time. With the mainstream media, Washington insiders and the so-called “experts” in elite universities all singing off the same leftwing song sheet, there is a desperate need for the facts and the arguments that support time honored American values and principles that lead to safety, prosperity and freedom. The Left can rely on the mainstream media to put out the spin it needs. Meanwhile, Americans are exposed to far fewer voices that explain why America has been...

GRANTS PASS, Or. -- Even though the raises are in the budget, a group of Grants Pass city employees says higher salaries would be unseemly. Members of the Grants Pass Employee Association have told city officials they'll forgo 2.5 percent cost of living adjustments due with the new year. Association leaders say the members looked at the overall economy and the layoffs among major local employers and decided they didn't want their friends and neighbors to see them as grabbing money. The decision is expected to save the city at least $87,000. Assistant City Manager Laurel Samson said nearly 100...

San Francisco - In a statement given today to the SF Chronicle, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress deserves a bailout because of inordinate personal expenses involved with running the country. "Anyone who has spent any time in the Washington, D.C. area knows how expensive it is to live there. Most of us have to maintain two homes, one in our home district and one there. Why sometimes, as outrageous as it sounds, we have to be away from our families up to 8 hours a day. Compensation is required for this inconvenience. We feel honored to request a bailout...

From the "You've got to be (expleteive) idding me" file ...The Congress of the United States of America, which (if you weren't aware) is controlled by Democrats, did precisely what any responsibly conscientious legislative body should do in the midst of a sweeping economic crisis ... they gave themselves a pay raise.Jordy Yager from The Hill writes: A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an...

In the past, whenever I heard that Congress had voted itself a raise (Shh! Don’t spread the news around, Comrade!), I shrugged it off. “Nice work if you can get,” was my basic reaction. I did not think highly of members of Congress as a group–a preening bunch of socialistically-inclined bureaucrats, most of them, I thought–but they were necessary, as in a “necessary evil.” Somebody had to mind the wheels of gummint, and better they than I. Somehow it was different this time. The sotto voce announcement that Congress, after wagging their collective head over executive pay and perks, decided...

Leading The News With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise By Jordy Yager Posted: 12/17/08 05:41 PM [ET] A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it. "As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they...

A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it. “As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League...

Will you be getting a pay raise next year? No, I didn’t think so. Well, guess who will be getting a little something extra in their direct deposits in a couple of weeks? The U.S. Congress - all 535 of those sticky-fingered windbags.

A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it. “As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League...

Politicians in Louisiana are suddenly discovering a sudden, hitherto unnoticed, urge to retire from public life and become private citizens once again. This eureka moment for about 140 (and growing by the hour!) politicians just “happens” to coincide with the approach of the date when Louisiana’s new ethics laws will come into effect. Perhaps the politicians are nervous—and for good cause. A 1996-2007 study of all states with a population greater-than 2 million found Louisiana to be the most corrupt state, based on public official convictions. The average between the 35 states surveyed was just under 3 convictions per 100,000...

Gov. Bobby Jindal will have to repair his credibility after reneging on his promise to lawmakers not to veto a pay raise doubling their salaries, some of his key legislative leaders said Tuesday. Senate President Joel Chaisson II, D-Destrehan, and House Speaker Pro Tem Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, said Jindal's sudden about-face on the pay raise will make it hard for some lawmakers to believe him in the future. "He needs to rebuild trust and do a better job of articulating his position," said Chaisson, who promised he will continue to work with the governor on key issues for...

Area lawmakers who opposed raising their pay praised Gov. Bobby Jindal’s veto of the volatile increase on Monday. But two Democratic lawmakers interviewed said Jindal broke his word and others said the veto may jeopardize his proposals in the Louisiana Legislature. “When someone gives you his word and takes it back, you lose a lot of respect,” said state Rep. Damon Baldone, D-Houma and a supporter of the increase. The legislation, Senate Bill 672, would have raised the pay package of rank-and-file lawmakers from about $38,000 per year to nearly $60,000. It was set to take effect today. But Jindal...

Breaking News from Louisiana: BATON ROUGE -- Gov. Bobby Jindal announced today that he has vetoed the legislative pay raise. After days of saying he would not reject the unpopular measure, Jindal said this morning that he had rejected the measure. Lawmakers in the most recent session voted to raise their annual base salary from $16,800 to $37,500. Jindal has been criticized for his inability to stop the raise before it was passed and his refusal since then to veto the pay raise bill. He pledged during his gubernatorial campaign last year to prohibit an immediate legislative pay raise. The...

Yes, Mr. Jindal did make a blunder — and a big one — an unforgettable one. And then to say he could veto it, but he will not. To the general public, this is a slap in the face! When we see all the needs out there — Department of Social Services, the group homes, nursing homes — they are understaffed and underpaid. There is no money for the nursing-home workers, and they are working for a pittance. We wonder why there is such a large number of complaints. How are you going to get trained workers for the pay...

Gov. Bobby Jindal's legislative director has resigned after serving fewer than six months with the new administration, which is embroiled in a controversy over the Legislature's large pay raise. Tommy Williams, 65, said Sunday the decision to leave was his and that he left on good terms. He did not offer reasons for his departure, but said he plans to return to his career as a professional lobbyist. "I cannot tell you how much I've learned and what a great opportunity I had," Williams said. Williams' resignation comes at a moment of intensely strained relations between Jindal and the Legislature,...

Of this, there can be no dispute: Gov. Bobby Jindal's honeymoon is over. The consensus at home is that Jindal lost his luster by declining to veto the Legislature's lavish pay raise. But Jindal is also playing to a national audience these days, and on that front, he's taking a different sort of hit. While Louisiana voters are up in arms over the revelation that Jindal is not above cutting political deals, the deal killer elsewhere in the country could be an unrelated bill that he signed last week, state Sen. Ben Nevers' "Louisiana Science Education Act." snip

BATON ROUGE -- In a sign that the public frustration about the legislative pay raise has spread to Gov. Bobby Jindal's base, a political novice and former Jindal supporter from Jefferson Parish has filed a recall petition against him. Ryan and Kourtney Fournier of Jefferson submitted paperwork to the secretary of state's office that allows them to attempt to collect the nearly 1 million signatures needed during the next 180 days to force a recall election of the governor. The papers were mailed Thursday and arrived Friday. Ryan Fournier, 32, said he is a registered Republican and was "a huge...

Officials in the Louisiana Secretary of State's office say a recall petition has been filed for Governor Bobby Jindal, making him the fifth elected official to face a recall attempt since the state legislature voted itself a payraise earlier this month. For a recall election to be called, the signatures of one-third of all registered voters in the state must be collected. That would be a total of 960,285 voters. Ryan Fournier of Jefferson submitted the recall petition. Other lawmakers facing recall attempts include House Speaker Jim Tucker (R-Terrytown), Rep. Steve Pugh (R-Ponchatoula), Rep. Joseph Lopinto (R-Metairie) and Rep. Franklin...

Gov. Bobby Jindal was back in the New York Times this week, with a picture, but for all the wrong reasons. The toxic pay raise controversy enveloping him has gone national and his political world has changed. Within days, Jindal went from being a legitimate vice-presidential prospect to having his character questioned in his first crisis of public confidence, without his having done a thing. Meanwhile, pay raise-supporting legislators, who thought the worst was over, are now seeing recall movements popping up around them. So far, drives are directed at three freshmen represenatives and Speaker of the House Jim Tucker,...

Surrounding my condo entrance is a cedar fence. When Gov. Bobby Jindal was campaigning for election in 2007, I had no need to put up a sign to show my support and hope. A bumper sticker was already attached from his campaign four years earlier. The sign remained fresh, as the fence is covered by a patio and carport awning. This sign represented a feeling of hope and trust that Louisiana would finally elect a governor “of the people.” A leader who would live up to campaign promises and when it came time ... would do the right thing. I...

Gov. Bobby Jindal admitted Tuesday that he blundered in allowing legislators to pass a bill that would more than double their base pay. “I’ve learned my lesson,” he said during a news conference outside the Governor’s Mansion. However, Jindal said he still plans to allow the pay raise to become law. Vetoing the bill would give legislators a reason to reverse his initiatives, including changes to the state’s ethics laws, he said. “Everybody knows it would be in my own self-interest politically to veto this bill,” he said. “I’d probably be the most popular governor in modern polling history if...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, in Shreveport for a ceremonial signing of a tax cut bill passed by the Legislature, was met today by protesters upset over state lawmakers doubling their pay and the governor's decision not to veto it. Residents around the state want the governor to veto the pay raise bill. Jindal said he thinks the raise is a bad idea but he won't veto it, saying the Legislature should deal with the consequences of its actions. Jindal went to Chamber of Commerce Plaza in downtown Shreveport at noon today for a ceremonial signing of a bill sponsored by...

The reformist image of Gov. Bobby Jindal, considered by Republicans a top potential vice-presidential choice, has recently taken a beating after Mr. Jindal refused to veto a sizable pay increase that Louisiana legislators voted for themselves this month. The increase would more than double the salary of the part-time legislators effective July 8, to $37,500 from $16,800, with considerably more money available once expenses are added in. It has touched a nerve in this impoverished state. Conservative talk-radio show hosts and bloggers have denounced it, newspaper editorials have inveighed against it — The Times-Picayune of New Orleans called the increase...

The Louisiana Legislature adjourns today. Gov. Bobby Jindal should mark the occasion by vetoing the session's most offensive and self-centered legislation: the 123-percent pay raise lawmakers gave themselves. It won't be easy for him. He's said repeatedly that he won't veto the measure, and if he does now, he will have misled lawmakers. But if he doesn't veto it, he will have misled voters, breaking an unambiguous promise he made on the campaign trail to "prohibit" raises such as this. Perhaps Gov. Jindal will do right by voters if a few more call him with their objections to the pay...

The Legislature completed its work Saturday on the nearly $30 billion state operating budget, sending Gov. Bobby Jindal a spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year that maintains most state programs at current levels and plows new money into education, health care and legislators' pet projects. The House agreed unanimously to adopt the Senate's changes to House Bill 1 by Rep. Jim Fannin, D-Jonesboro, marking the third year in a row that lawmakers have adopted the budget without a House-Senate compromise committee. State general-fund spending will grow by more than $1 billion, or 12.4 percent, in the fiscal year that...

Pay increases part of government trend The Legislature's newly approved salary increase is but the highly visible tip of an iceberg of substantial pay raises for Louisiana public employees in the past year, building pressure on the state budget. Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has shown some results in stemming government job growth, but he also has set an example of substantial salary increases for a few elite members of his team while refusing to stop the lawmakers' raise. When he took office in January, Jindal inherited a bulge in personnel costs for state workers as well as for a long...

Veto Heat on Jindal Pay raise becomes character issue The governor is trying to keep intense public opposition to the legislative pay raise directed at legislators, but, more and more, the volcanic controversy is turning into a test of character: his own. Speaker Jim Tucker dismissed the governor's latest demand that lawmakers suspend the pay raise they voted for themselves. With no further action expected from lawmakers before Monday's final adjournment, the issue, like the bill, lies with the governor. With editorial and public pressure mounting for a gubernatorial veto before the July 8 deadline, some Fourth Floor staffers, with...

House pay bill vote due Friday Gov. Bobby Jindal said Wednesday he would let a bill that would triple legislators’ pay become law rather than use his veto pen. House Speaker Jim Tucker told the state House of Representatives on Wednesday that the pay raise bill would be scheduled for a vote on Friday. Jindal said he did not want to give legislators a reason to sidetrack the bills he wants passed. “I don’t want to give anybody any excuse for slowing down any of the important reform going through the legislature (that are) important to the people of Louisiana,”...

...try it: pick a day next week, walk into your boss’s office and inform him/her that you have voted yourself a 34% raise, with a clear 1/3 tax-free, with all the perks that go with public office. Depending on your boss, you will be considered the ‘life of the office’, tagged for some ‘employee therapy program’, or escorted out the front door....

ANNAPOLIS — Gov. Martin O'Malley created a new pay grade for top members of his administration, including Public Service Commission Chairman Steven B. Larsen, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times. The discovery follows recent findings that Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, gave more than $600,000 in pay raises to 47 of his top aides, even as state workers face potential cuts in pay raises. Under the new pay grade, EX91, Mr. O'Malley will pay four employees as much as $235,000. The previous cap for high-ranking employees of a Maryland governor was $159,632, but governors frequently exceeded the figure. "The...

WASHINGTON – Fortunately for members of Congress, their pay isn't tied to their approval ratings. Lawmakers in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the pay they have lived with since January 2006. That 2.5 percent increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100. The salary figures were published in Tuesday's edition of the Federal Register. Last year was the first since 1999, when the pay was $136,700,...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2007 – Military members will receive a 3 percent pay raise effective tomorrow, as President Bush urges Congress to revise some provisions regarding Iraq contained in the fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization Act. The president authorized the 3 percent pay raise in an executive order. The act includes authorization for a 0.5 percent additional pay raise for U.S. troops, but the president has, for now, elected not to sign the defense authorization bill in its present form while Congress is adjourned, a practice known as a "pocket veto." On Dec. 28, President Bush announced his displeasure...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year's elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000. The cost-of-living raise endorsed Wednesday evening gets lawmakers back on track for automatic pay raises after a fight between the parties last year and again in January killed the pay increase due this year. That was the first interruption of the annual congressional pay boost in seven years. The blowup came after Democrats last year fulfilled a campaign promise to deny themselves more...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite low approval ratings and hard feelings from last year's elections, Democrats and Republicans in the House are reaching out for an approximately $4,400 pay raise that would increase their salaries to almost $170,000. The cost-of-living raise endorsed Wednesday evening gets lawmakers back on track for automatic pay raises after a fight between the parties last year and again in January killed the pay increase due this year. That was the first interruption of the annual congressional pay boost in seven years. The blowup came after Democrats last year fulfilled a campaign promise to deny themselves more...

Say What? That’s right the most “ethical” congress in history voted itself a payhike today. I am looking for the roll call and I will post it when it when I find it. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., worked the floor during the vote to make sure there was relative balance between the warring parties in delivering votes. Working through Blunt, Hoyer forced more than a dozen Republicans to switch their votes in support of accepting the raise, including Mike Pence and Daniel Burton of Indiana and Fred Upton, Dave Camp and Vernon Ehlers...

Despite record-low approval ratings, House lawmakers Wednesday voted to accept an approximately $4,400 pay raise that will increase their salaries to almost $170,000. The cost-of-living raise gets lawmakers back on track for automatic pay raises after a fight between Democrats and Republicans last year and again in January killed the pay hike due this year. That was the first interruption of the annual congressional pay hike in seven years. The blowup came after Democrats last year fulfilled a campaign promise to deny themselves a pay hike until Congress raised the minimum wage. Delays in the minimum wage bill cost every...

It’s time to tell the dirty politicians “Hello, NO!” They want a 62% pay raise before doing any of the people’s work in Montgomery this legislative session. We, at the Matt Murphy Radio Program and at 101.1 FM The Source, want to do something! Nothing less than a March on Montgomery will do the trick! Matt Murphy and the Source are asking for concerned citizens to commit! It’s A March on Montgomery to stop this obscene pay increase! If you are as mad, then sign up with this link! By signing up, you are making a commitment to join US...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2007 – A 3-percent pay raise for servicemembers, an increase in ground forces and continued funding of the global war on terrorism are on the table now that President Bush has delivered his fiscal 2008 defense budget request and 2007 emergency supplemental request to Congress today. The total DoD 2008 budget request is pegged at $481.4 billion. This represents an 11.3-percent increase over fiscal 2007. “As commander in chief, my highest priority is the security of the nation,” President Bush said in his letter delivering the budget to Congress. “My budget invests substantial resources to fight...

D.C. Council members yesterday gave final approval to pay raises for themselves and for the city's next mayor, authorizing the increases just days before the current council period expires. The salary measure was one of a number of bills passed during the council's final legislative session before it recesses Saturday. Three new council members and a new council chairman will be sworn in on Jan. 2.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Members of Congress are in line for a $3,300 pay raise effective Jan. 1 unless they block it, and Democrats said Thursday they intend to try. Officials said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the party's leaders, had notified Republicans they will try to add the anti-pay-raise provision to a bill that provides funds for most government agencies through Feb. 15. Congress must pass the funding bill before it adjourns for the year, and the target for that is Friday. Democrats won control of Congress in last month's elections after a campaign...

HARRISBURG - In a decision that is renewing public anger, the state Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the legislature violated the state constitution by allowing lawmakers to take midterm pay raises last year. But the court stopped short of requiring House and Senate members who accepted the extra money to reimburse the state, ruling that they "acted in good faith" that the law was constitutional. Separately, the court reinstated the raises for 1,000 members of the state judiciary - including its own - that ended when the legislature repealed the pay hikes amid an outpouring of public outrage in November....

Pay Raiser Stetler Resigns......95th District State Representative Steve Stetler is resigning, effective September 29th..............it is no secret that Stetler was a House member who supported the pay raise, took it and didn't return the money when the raise was repealed........... Central School Superintendent Says She Was 'Misunderstood'...........When the Central York School Superintendent Dr. Linda Estep, made comments about a state law requiring the district to build a new pool in a planned addition to its high school, I suggested an investigation as to the truth of that comment. The "York Dispatch" got an answer from the Pennsylvania Department of Education...

It's now been a year since our legislators gave themselves that colossal pay hike. It turned out to be a costly raise. The outraged voters fired a state Supreme Court justice along with 17 lawmakers. Thirty others saw the writing on the wall and decided to call it a career. But, like Boy Scouts, they were prepared for retirement. Talk about golden parachutes! President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate Robert C. Jubelirer, one of those given the boot by voters, will pull in over $105,000 a year forever for his years of "public service." You and I would need...

Congress has just chopped a week off what already is a notoriously skimpy work calendar so that lawmakers will have extra campaign time at home this fall. The Capitol will recess at the end of September, leaving a world of unfinished business. You’ll be relieved to know, however, that among the House items already seen to was a pay increase — 2 percent over the current base salary of $168,500. Pay raises are a classic bit of passive-aggressive legislative behavior in Washington: they’re automatic, unless Congress takes a vote to block them. In the past 16 years, the two houses...

A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Without much fanfare, the House of Representatives last week voted to give members of Congress yet another pay raise, as it has done almost every year for nearly a decade. For some reason, our elected officials decided against holding a news conference. Maybe that's because they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that they raise their own salaries almost every year while refusing to raise the pay of our lowest-paid workers.

After months of declining job-approval poll results, George W. Bush seems to be turning around his presidency with the help of good news. Less than five months before the midterm elections, several key events have joined to lift Mr. Bush's approval polls to nearly 40 percent (up from 31 percent in May) and fewer Americans now think his decision to go into Iraq was a mistake. The Gallup Poll says 48 percent now believe the U.S. will win the war in Iraq, up from 39 percent in April. Among these linchpin developments:

Reviews by Democratic activists of "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's documentary on global warning: raves on content, not so favorable on the principal actor. Democratic politicians who have seen the movie that accompanies Gore on his current tour say it is the most effective presentation yet about global warming. But they contend there is "too much Gore," including aspects of his personal life that have nothing to do with the environment. A footnote: Many critics of Gore are acknowledged supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. They view the former vice president as her potentially most serious opponent. (snip)MINIMUM...

WASHINGTON — Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday allowed a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500. The 2 percent cost-of-living raise would be the seventh straight for members of the House and Senate. Lawmakers easily squelched a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to get a direct vote to block the COLA, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it.

Two of the top legislative leaders in Harrisburg yesterday lost their party's nominations for re-election, victims of voter anger over last summer's aborted legislative pay raises. Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, and Senate Majority Leader David Brightbill, R-Lebanon, two of the architects of the pay raise, were defeated by candidates who presented more conservative platforms. On the Democratic side, House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese, of Waynesburg, and Minority Whip Mike Veon, of Beaver Falls, survived challenges. Mr. DeWeese had an easy time, but Mr. Veon, the lone vote against repeal of the pay raise, struggled in a...