Pay Raises

There has been quite a lot of news about the California legislators pay raises...and not all of the news is printed. Although, if you read carefully, you would see that the California Citizens Compensation Commission decides who gets a raise and how much. But that didn't stop our acting governor from lashing out at the legislators. What's missing from that story is the fact that Arnold is paying his staff 8% more than his predecessor did. It's no big deal...but fair is fair.

And I really had to laugh at this news story...Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, defended the commission vote. He said higher salaries for lawmakers are necessary to attract good candidates for office."The speaker respects the decision," he said. "If we want to continue to attract topflight legislators, their salaries need to be competitive with other public positions."

"...Continue to attract topflight legislators" What did he say?? If this is the best we get for our money, then we need to find another way of attracting them. Obviously, money doesn't work. We can see that from our experience with the acting governor. He takes no salary at all, getting his compensation by appearing in publicly funded movies, such as the "Terminator vs the Potholes" flick that was filmed last week. He does 2 or 3 of these each week, usually featuring his Hummer and some local restaurant...

ps...There are two vacancies on that California Citizens Compensation Commission and have been since 2003. The Governor is the only one who can fill those spots...and he hasn't.