34%

Today I heard on the radio that PA lawmakers gave themselves and the governor an annual salary increase - some as much as 34%.

Anyone out there ever gotten a 34% increase in pay for the same job in a single year?

It always amazes me how legislatures can cut programs with one hand while quietly raising their pay with the other. Makes it kind of difficult taking all the budget crunching rhetoric at face value.

3% cost of living, sure. 10% "salary adjustment," ok. 34%? How can anyone in public office give themselves a 34% raise and not feel dirty?

I used to have this idea that salary for a government official ought to be tied to what the people they represent make - and not the mean, the median. So it wouldn't matter nearly as much how many zillionairres there are pulling the rate up as how many blue collar people and unemployed people there were providing ballast.

Median household income in the US last year was about $42,000. That's what the President of the United States ought to make. Median household income for the state of Pennsylvania is something like $47,000. That'd be the salary for a PA Senator. $28,588 - Mayor of Pittsburgh.

Using a system like this does a few things. First, there would be none of this voting themselves a raise crap. Second, for them to get a raise, they would have to improve the overall economic condition of their electorate. Obviously this would have to be paired with some kind of campaign finance legislation otherwise the payola would likely get out of hand. This would also tend to make the representative of an area more representative of the people in that area. One would hope that dynamic might help to more closely align the priorities of the governors to the governed.

Which is I guess just a long way of saying: "34%? Y'all can bite me."