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California lawmakers salaries highest in nation

March 26, 2012

Despite years of pay cuts spurred by the budget crisis, California legislator’ salaries remain the highest in the nation. [SacramentoBee]

California lawmakers lead the nation with base pay at $95,291, trailed by Pennsylvania, $82,026, and New York, $79,500.

 On Friday, state-by-state pay statistics will be weighed by the California Citizens Compensation Commission, a seven-member panel appointed by the governor to set pay for legislators and other statewide elected officials.

 Over the past three years, California legislators have lowered their salaries, cut payments for living expenses and cut car allowances.


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Hmmm –


A friend of mine campaigned hard to get a state house position in New Hampshire. He works very hard and gets about a nickel/hour.


http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/legisdata/2011-ncsl-legislator-compensation-table.aspx


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Does anyone see the connection between the fairly new term limits on California state politicians and how they kept increasing their pay, possibly to offset how short of time they can now serve? I know the term limits were imposed to kick Willie Brown out of office because he had gotten so powerful and even abusive, but the negative effects resulting from the term limits is more power for the lobbyists since the elected officials don’t always have all the knowledge of how to function in their new position and can be possibly mislead by the lobbyists trying so hard to get their way with legislation. I think we need a serious reset in almost every rule about our state legislature, from the manner in how they are elected (public financing only would totally eliminate the serious influence the lobbyists currently effect) to the amount of pay they earn (eliminating some of the “extra” pay they get for short weeks or whatever) as well as allowances for vehicles (if the politicians don’t have to raise money to get elected by using public financing, the politician can use their personal vehicle). Another really good tool for electing people that would more interested in representing the true will of the voters would be to introduce I.R.V. (Instant Run-off Voting) that would allow many more third and forth party candidates to get elected. Unfortunately, we will have to get both policies of public financed campaigns and IRV voting on the ballot as initiatives since both Democrats and Republicans will never ever allow those to come to light if they can help it.


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No surprises here and yet they seem almost completely disconnected from those they “represent”.


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That’s just base pay. Perks probably make it double. Why do idiots keep voting for these greedy, self absorbed, self dealing pigs that prostitute themselves to the greedy State workers?


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Because Joe Public has no financial backing and when you get that high up in office you become a prostitute who has to repay favors from financial backers. Its starts at the lowest level of politics, City council, mayor then moving up the food chain. We can’t even get good honest people at the lowest level of politics any more. Follow the MONEY! California lawmakers receiving the highest salaries while the same page has Paso Robles School District teachers having to take a pay cut. Many many more have gotten pink slips. When was the last time you saw any politician struggling to make ends meet? Republicans and Democrats alike have become the problem not the answer. People are so busy arguing which party is right, Democrat! Republican! The politicians are loving that they have the voters fighting like it’s the Superbowl, when the only winners are the big corporations and the lawmakers. So who do you vote for? Satan or Hitler?


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Neither. Everyone is of the belief that if you do not vote, you are not participating. But if you are not happy with the integrity of the process or the candidates, all you are doing is providing legitimacy for the corrupt rule. In particular if you support someone simply because they are a member of your “party,” you are potentially doing great harm by participating.


The truth is that since electronic voting came into being, the process has become absolutely bogus, except where it does not matter. Now it is possible to alter an election, leave no physical evidence and prevent any legitimate check & balance to identify the fraud. The interesting thing about the way the systems have been designed is that they limit the extent to which any third parties could alter the outcome while maximizing the accessibility for the Democrats and Republicans. So most rigging by either party would merely end in mutually assured destruction or last-hack-wins. However this ensures the ongoing security of the two-party scam. The more people that vote, the easier it is to control the outcome without making it completely obvious. The less people vote, the trickier it will be for them,.


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“The truth is that since electronic voting came into being, the process has become absolutely bogus, except where it does not matter.” In a word, NO. In the elections in 2006, we elected a new Secretary of State, Debra Bowen. One of her first actions was to suspend the operation of all electronic voting machines, Link to a report of her actions back in 2007.


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Everybody seems to think all the politicians are corrupt and worthless – except their own. Look at the re-election rate. Vote for the opposition, no matter who it is and they all get turned out. If the opposition doesn’t change things, throw THEM out next time – and so on and so on. Eventually, they’ll get the message.


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Right freaking on! That’s what I’m talking about. Don’t vote for “your” guy -he’s SCREWING you. I’m mostly conservative but I would NEVER vote for Abel Maldo-YOU-KNOW-WHo because he screwed everyone in the state by voting for a tax bill that raised your taxes by about two grand per year. Thank goodness it expired last year. He’s the kind of snake that will sell out his own party for his political gain. I laughed great thunderous HO HO’s around all my right wing work buddies when I told them I voted for GAViN NEWSOM(thank goodness again that his job is lame duck city). I’ll vote for Liberal lunatic Lois before I vote for Abel Maldo-whatever his name is.


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