I've got a great idea! Let's give Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell more money!
No, I’m not delusional. In fact, this is what a new state commission says ought to happen. According to them, Sarah Palin’s salary ought to increase from $125,000/yr. to $150,000/yr. So says the commission, formed last month, that is made up of people appointed by… (you know what’s coming, don’t you?)…Governor Sarah Palin.
Just a little reminder. There are people in rural Alaska who cannot afford heat. Our budget is based on $76/barrel oil. Oil, right now, is less than $40/barrel. Our budget does not adequately fund our State Troopers, even on the most basic level, among many many other things. The national media is talking about facing the next Great Depression. And Governor Sarah Palin is going to get a raise?
And when Governor Palin went on the campaign trail, hoping to be our next VP, she decided that rather than leave the state in the hands of Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, she’d prefer to try to run the state while she was campaigning. She went so far as to bring along her $1000/day assistant (paid for by the state of Alaska) and her blackberry to do the state’s business, from thousands of miles away. Anything but turn the state over to the person who is…er…. supposed to be running things if she can’t. After this ringing endorsement of Sean Parnell’s leadership capabilities, let’s give him a raise too! What the heck? It’s only money, right?
“I thought we just gave a raiseto the governor and the commissioners,” Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, said Monday in reaction to the recommendations.
That raise was in 2006, when the Legislature increased the governor’s pay by 46 percent. Gov. Sarah Palin was the first to get the new pay rate. Her predecessor, Frank Murkowski, made about $86,000 a year. In 2006 the lieutenant governor got a pay hike too: 25 percent.
The panel came up with a list of recommendations over the weekend and is looking for the public to weigh in at a meeting Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office. People who can’t get to Anchorage can take part in Thursday’s public meeting through their local Legislative Information Office. Another meeting is planned for Jan. 10.
Whatever new pay scale the commission eventually settles on after hearing from the public takes root unless the Legislature acts to reject it.
Oh, this oughtta be good. I wonder if anyone will have anything to say about this? I’m guessing by the fact that the public comment is requested at 9am on a work day, they’re trying to test the waters before the big Saturday meeting in January. If I close my eyes, and clear my mind, I can hear the blood pressure of all the fiscal conservatives in Southcentral Alaska rising. Why, I can practically feel their little hearts pounding with outrage! Wait….that’s mine.
As for the recommendations that legislators get paid more, I’m not going to argue. And while I think that there are legislators who are making about $24,000/year too much for what they do, others are not.
Legislators have had the same basic pay — $24,000— since the early 1990s, according to the Legislative Affairs Agency.
The commission suggests doubling that number, while getting rid of a $150-a-day per diem lawmakers earn for working on state business when the Legislature’s not in session. Some lawmakers claim more of the off-season per diem pay than others.
Lawmakers would also still receive a daily per diem they collect while the Legislature is in session in Juneau, as well as money for office expenses and reimbursement for travel and moving costs.
Ramras, a restaurant and hotel owner, doesn’t support increasing the base pay.
“People run for elected office because they have big egos and because they think they can help people. They don’t run for the pay raise.”
While Legislature isn’t very good at deciding it’s own salary, changes are necessary, said Rep. Mike Doogan, D-Anchorage, who proposed creating the independent commission last year.
The people who run for office are often retirees who can afford it. The way to get a younger, more diverse group of lawmakers is to pay people enough to focus on the job, he said.
“The question isn’t whether or not people’s pay goes up, the question is — are you paying them enough to have a reasonable expectation that they’re going to do a decent job for you?”
If paying legislators a decent wage for what they do means that the field of eligible candidates opens up to include people who are better suited to the job than most of those in the seats right now, then I’m all for it.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
