"Patrick cuts lawmakers’ pay by $300" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff / January 4, 2011
Governor Deval Patrick told state lawmakers yesterday that he will trim their salaries by about $300 to match the drop in pay experienced by typical Massachusetts households over the past two years.
If you kept the job, that is.
The Constitution requires the governor to adjust legislators’ salaries every two years, based on changes in the state’s median household income. But this is the first time since voters passed a 1998 measure linking median income and lawmakers’ pay that salaries for 200 state House and Senate members will go down instead of up.
The 0.5 percent pay cut to lawmakers’ $61,440 base salaries carries more symbolism than economic consequences.
So sick of the propaganda of symbolism, politics, and the papers, can you tell?
The savings will have hardly any impact on the state’s projected $1.5 billion gap for the next budget year, which begins July 1. For lawmakers, it amounts to a loss of about $6 per week, and it does not affect the thousands of dollars in additional money many receive for holding leadership positions and driving to and from the State House.
Patrick avoided any attempt yesterday to compare the cut in income, which will also reduce his salary, with the layoffs and pay cuts faced by many employees in the private sector. Instead, he portrayed the salary cut as a mostly mechanical exercise....
Several legislators have said they were expecting the cut and, to some extent, welcoming it, given the harsh economy facing their constituents. In other years, they have been bombarded with questions about whether they would accept a raise. This year, they are being asked whether the cut was large enough....
When are they going to accept two years of unemployment?
--more--"
If you kept the job, that is.
The Constitution requires the governor to adjust legislators’ salaries every two years, based on changes in the state’s median household income. But this is the first time since voters passed a 1998 measure linking median income and lawmakers’ pay that salaries for 200 state House and Senate members will go down instead of up.
The 0.5 percent pay cut to lawmakers’ $61,440 base salaries carries more symbolism than economic consequences.
So sick of the propaganda of symbolism, politics, and the papers, can you tell?
The savings will have hardly any impact on the state’s projected $1.5 billion gap for the next budget year, which begins July 1. For lawmakers, it amounts to a loss of about $6 per week, and it does not affect the thousands of dollars in additional money many receive for holding leadership positions and driving to and from the State House.
Patrick avoided any attempt yesterday to compare the cut in income, which will also reduce his salary, with the layoffs and pay cuts faced by many employees in the private sector. Instead, he portrayed the salary cut as a mostly mechanical exercise....
Several legislators have said they were expecting the cut and, to some extent, welcoming it, given the harsh economy facing their constituents. In other years, they have been bombarded with questions about whether they would accept a raise. This year, they are being asked whether the cut was large enough....
When are they going to accept two years of unemployment?
--more--"
Then he decides he's going to bee-bop around the planet promoting himself:
"Patrick plans to expand travels; Would promote trade, publicize his memoir; May raise questions on his aspirations" by Noah Bierman, Globe Staff / January 5, 2011
Governor Deval Patrick has a new goal as he starts his second term tomorrow: get out of the state more often.
Then why did you run for reelection?
Full of confidence, and a bit of bluster, since his reelection in November, the governor said yesterday that he is planning more travel, both domestically and overseas, to promote the state on trade missions, to research other states’ policies, to publicize his upcoming memoir, and possibly to campaign for President Obama....
Is that WHY YOU REELECTED HIM, Massachusetts?
Patrick’s trips may renew speculation about whether he harbors aspirations for higher office or a political appointment out of state, and it may draw criticism that he is junketeering, especially if he combines book promotion with state business....
That's what he will be peddling: junk.
--more--"
