The Southern: Illinois legislators among best paid in country
This is rich...
...literally.
via The Southern,
Illinois legislators currently earn base salaries of $57,619, which is set to rise to $68,800 next year, in part because the Illinois Senate failed this month to stop a scheduled pay increase. The salary boost is the result of several years' worth of scheduled increases that the Legislature had earlier rejected, and is in addition to thousands of dollars more that many Illinois lawmakers get for committee chairmanships, leadership posts and a regular per diem payment for days they meet in session in Springfield.
Those session periods generally total six months or less per year, making the Illinois General Assembly - like that of most states - a part-time legislature.
But a Post-Dispatch analysis found that Illinois legislators' current base salary, before the upcoming raise, makes them the fifth highest-paid state lawmakers in the nation. The only better-paid lawmakers - those in California, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania - are considered full-time legislative bodies.
Other legislatures with schedules closer to Illinois' half-year cycle - including Missouri, where the schedule is virtually identical to Illinois' - earn far less than their Illinois counterparts.
2 comments:
When I was in office, I figured I was in Springfield about 1/4 of the time.
That didn't mean I wasn't working in my district office the rest of the time, I hasten to note.
Well, Cal, the merit comp employees of the state are there full time and they haven't gotten a dime in almost 5 years, yet are expected to promote the Governor's taxpayer-bilked initiatives with a smile on their faces. The 4% we got two years ago just reimbursed them for the additional 4% they had to pay for insurance. It's a smoke and mirrors game but in the end, the union has theirs, the house and senate have theirs and the average state merit comp employee has bupkus. I bet they all wish they could vote themselves a raise when they wanted it. What a state is the state we live in!!!!
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