Automatic pay raises for legislatures

Quick post about automatic pay raises. Back in the late 1990s (I think) Massachusetts residents had a big issue with the legislature voting themselves a pay raise. The result was an amendment to the Commonwealth’s constitution that set up automatic raises based on median household income.

I’m sure some politicians quietly smiled, knowing that they were probably going to get a better deal with higher base pay. When things got bad, they could point the the Constitution and blame the voters.

Now of course, with the economy in a downturn, everyone is screaming about automatic pay raises provided to government leaders who are failing when it comes to efficiently running government.

I understand that many of these leaders work pretty hard – primarily trying to get re-elected – but what is the solution? Maybe they should only get paid on performance?

Maybe, it should be an unpaid position where you work only a few hours a week? How many more government laws and regulations do we really need?

Malkin has more today on the pressure Democrats are getting on pay raises.

GOP Sen. David Vitter is causing Senate Democrats heartburn. Good.

He’s been pushing an amendment to the $410 billion omni-pork bill that would repeal the current law allowing automatic pay raises for Congress.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

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