I guess I'm confused because this doesn't seem to be a right wing left wing thing. It's just people getting paid. Like I said he made the wrong decision, and should be criticized but to lump it in as a republican decision doesn't ring true to me. Do you disagree? By the way, the governor can't pass a bill on his own. That was my other point.
I have mixed feelings about this pay raise.I heard 2 of these legislators speak on the radio defending the raise.They claim that they haven't had a raise since 1980,so i guess i can see some sort of raise due here.If you take a 1980 salary and index it for inflation ,I wonder how much that would be.Maybe Red can figure that out.One is an attorney and says while the legislature is in session he goes from 100 billable hours a week at his practice down to about 5 billable hours a week,and Jindal plans on working their tails off,keeping them in session more weeks ,thus resulting in a loss of their income from their own businesses One of their points was that without a raise,the only people that would run for office would be ...independently wealthy...retired persons...or scoundrels.Now I am not sure but i don't think any of our legislators are independently wealthy or retired persons...so what does that leave us with?
The republican governor has a republician legislative agenda that he wants to get passed. So he openly states that he's against the pay raise for good reasons, but he will not veto them because he wants their votes on his proposed legislation. Pandering. Louisiana politics as usual. Republican politics in this case.
Im pretty sure Republicans outnumber democrats on this forum, so no need to cry over whos always bashing republicans. No need to follow a drum beat, try thinking for yourselves. Just stiring the pot this morning
You completely miss the point. Nobody's crying. I made a tongue in cheek comment to Red about his political stance perceived and real. It's got nothing to do with bashing one side or the other, it's got to do with creating a partisan situation over something that is very much not. Republicans and democrats alike voted for the legislation. Let's talk about the issue, and the specific politicians who are to blame, not the parties. It frustrates me that the most educated and insightful poster on this board who claims to be an independent can turn what I perceive to be a non partisan issue in to a blame game on either party. Jindal takes a big share of the blame here, but to say "the republicans will rob us for the next four years" over this legislation reeks of an ulterior agenda. You know it's funny, I joined this board a couple of years ago and swore I would never post in the free speech alley because I don't like to talk about politics with anyone. Friends and family included. However, I seem to be in the middle of a lot of these threads now. I guess politics are so polarizing and important with everything going on that it's demanding more of my thoughts.
Perfect. This is all I was getting at. BS politics and like you said, republican this time in the governors seat. Very disappointing but it's a good thing he doesn't have a tough act to follow.
We are currently about middle of the pack as far as what we pay our legislators. How about we run it like a business. When they perform better, they will be compensated better.
I know exactly what you were trying to do, I was just poking at your side a little bit. But you are right, politics will suck you in especially if you have passion for what you believe in. With most of my friends I dont discuss it. But its hard not to these days. :thumb:
Legislative pay raise It looks like the Louisiana legislature is set to triple their annual pay, and the governor does not seem to have the balls to veto the bill because it might endanger his legislation. If the bill passes the House and he fails to veto it, his legislation will be the least of his problems. I voted for him last time, but if he does not have the integrity and courage to do what is right, I will never vote for him again. I am interested in what you guys have to say about the issue.
Here is the deal. They are not just voting for a pay raise, they are voting to TRIPLE their salaries. Not only that, they want it to start next month. Usually, for ethical reasons, they make it start for the next legislature, so they have no appearance of giving something to themselves. Furthermore, our legislature is a part-time legislature intentionally so that the legislature won't be composed of career politicians. The pay raise they want makes them the highest paid part-time legislature in the country! The only 6 states with slightly higher pay are big states like California with full-time legislatures. These guys want top full-time pay for part-time work. On top of that, they tie their pay to the pay of the US Congress, so that when congress gives itself a raise, they get one automatically! This is a side-effect of term limits. Half of these guys won't be able to run again, so they ain't worried about losing your vote. The others just got elected and hope you forget in three years. We need to make a loud noise about this to our representatives. Future candidates Will make an moral and ethical issue out of it. Here we are in a state that is 40th or 50th in most major economic and educational categories and our legislators want to be rewarded with the top pay in the country! Worse they do it in a year when they have a budget surplus, yet they cut funding to Universities, didn't give state employees any raises and didn't give state retirees any raises. VOTE THEM ALL OUT NEXT ELECTION.
