Another Scam by the Legislature

John Seiler:

No wonder the California Legislature’s approval rating by citizens is at 10%, an all-time low. Street gangs are held in higher esteem than the Legislature Gang. Consider this sweet scam:

By convening for less than a half hour on Friday, the 80 members of the Assembly and 40 members of the Senate entitled themselves to $568 each.

That’s almost a $70,000 cost to taxpayers.

The reason? On top of their $95,291 annual salary, lawmakers can collect $142 per day when the legislature is in session. Those daily payments halt if the legislature takes off four or more days.

By convening for a short time on Friday, the legislature kept the Presidents Day holiday as a three-day weekend, meaning they could collect the daily payments while on recess Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Imagine you doing that at your job. You punch in early in the morning, then get four days off — with pay. Oh, and you get a free car, too. With a taxpayer-supplied credit card for the gas.

The Legislators can’t even do their jobs, running up deficit after deficit, year after year, the current amount being $25 billion.

And the solution of the Democratic majority in the Legislature? The same one since the Pharaohs ripped off their subjects to build the pyramids: tax slavery. In our case, $12 billion in tax increases.

Here’s an idea: Why don’t we just dissolve the state government? Let the counties and cities do what’s needed for the citizens.

Enough waste by these wastrels in the state capitol is enough.

Feb. 19, 2011