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The Times-Picayune, New Orleans
Briefing Book
May 30, 2004
Pay raises blasted
A government watchdog group is urging Gov. Kathleen Blanco to veto a bill that would grant hefty pay raises to legislators and statewide elected officials. The bill was revived last week by a Senate committee. Blanco has said she opposes the measure by Sen. Charles Jones, D-Monroe, which would grant $40,000 pay increases to the governor and several statewide elected officials. But she has stopped short of promising a veto, instead predicting that the bill won't reach her desk. In a commentary published Thursday, the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana said Blanco "should feel no hesitation in vetoing" the bill. The group took particular exception to a provision in the bill that would boost legislators' salaries from $18,500 per year to $36,000. "Louisiana legislators are not poorly compensated for these part-time jobs and, in fact, are better paid than their counterparts in many other states," PAR President Jim Brandt wrote, adding that the pay increase would also boost lawmakers' retirement pay. The bill, which is supported by every statewide elected official except Blanco and Treasurer John Kennedy, is expected to face a hearing this week in the Committee on Senate and Governmental Affairs.
