And Another Thing …
About that mugging, here’s the mob who did it. In another profession, the following would be called “Omerta.” via Boston Herald:
More than three-quarters of Beacon Hill lawmakers – including the House speaker and Senate president – threw up “a veil of secrecy” when pressed for the size and salaries of their taxpayer-paid staff, even as they are muscling through wallet-crippling tax hikes.
For nearly two months, some 155 of 200 House and Senate lawmakers have stonewalled a Herald request for a list of their staff and salaries – public information that should be readily available upon request.
“They have an obligation to the people who elected them to be forthright with their actions, how they’re spending money, and be accountable,” said Edwin Bender, executive director of the Montana-based National Institute for Money and State Politics. “If lawmakers are not willing to tell you something as simple as their employees and their salaries, what else are they hiding?”
The salaries of all state employees can be ascertained if you know their names. But a loophole in the law makes it virtually impossible to find out who works for which lawmaker. The reason: Years ago House and Senate lawmakers exempted themselves from public records laws.
House Minority Leader Rep. Bradley H. Jones (R-North Reading) had the largest staff among those who responded to the Herald’s request, employing 17 staffers for a total payroll of roughly $650,000. Jones, who also released the staff and payroll for all House Republicans, blasted his colleagues’ “veil of secrecy.”
“There is a lack of transparency,” Jones said. “In my opinion, it’s public information . . . but you practically have to waterboard someone to get it.”
Hey, good idea.
While lawmakers last night inched closer to hiking the sales tax to 6.25 percent, records show the House is projected to shell out $31.3 million to 160 members and 561 staffers this year. In the Senate, $16.4 million will be paid to 40 members and 342 aides.
That works out to an average of $43,000 on both sides. Not including fat pensions and bennies unseen in most of the private sector … and not bad for doing, I can assure you, not much, in a place where rampant absenteeism, tardyism, early flight and extended weekends are the rule, and unresponsiveness is the predominant characteristic of those hours that are in fact “worked.”
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:45 am Comments (0) on Wednesday, May 20, 2009
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