Lege Watch

Representative Jim Tucker and quite a few others are attempting to defend themselves by saying that they are only paid $16,800 per year. This is not true. They actually take home a great deal more than that. The Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana has the facts on what they actually get, and we’ve created this handy visual using their figures; click to see a larger graphic:

But their compensation doesn’t end with an average pay of over $35,000! They also get

• mileage - .485 cents per mile
• health insurance - 75 percent of the member’s portion of the premium and approximately 50 percent of the premium for the member’s dependents.

And to ensure that their part time legislative work does not cost them anything, the following is also provided for:

• housing - based on seniority legislators may stay in the Pentagon Barracks with rents ranging from $300 to $375 per month. (For the rest, a cursory Google search revealed that there are a variety of corporate apartments available to rent for short periods for well under $1000 per month; easily covered by the unvouchered expense of $6,000 per year.)
• office allowance - a first time setup allowance of $2,000, a $500 per month for rent and utilities, plus $500 each term for equipment and furnishings, plus up to $1500 a month more for district office telephone lines, office equipment and supplies, and other approved reimbursable expenses.
• computers - a desktop, a laptop, and high speed internet
• an assistant - up to $3,000 per month salary for an unclassified state employee assistant to cover things while they work at their regular jobs for the majority of the year.

So if we’re going to talk about how legislators are compensated, let’s have the facts, not the deception.

Please download this graphic, post it on your blogs, spread it around however you can.

While it is technically true that they get paid $16,800 per year, it is by far not the whole story. They are being deliberately dishonest in order to make this problem - angry voters - go away. It is time to hold them to account.

Give these oh-so-hardworking legislators a raise!

According to WWL they were watching the game during the debate of a “controversial” child support bill.

Nice work if you can get it.

Let’s see if their job description includes watching baseball while at work:

What is the legislator’s role during session?

The legislator’s role during the session is to carry out the lawmaking function of the legislative branch. The responsibility of the legislature to formulate policy is the legislative role first declared by the founding fathers. The Legislature of Louisiana exercises the power of the citizenry. The legislature may enact any law not specifically prohibited by the state or federal constitution or preempted by federal law.

Floor debate and voting on legislation during a session are the traditional roles perceived for legislators. Today, the role of a legislator during session involves far more and is far more visible, as technology and the media have opened the legislative process to wider access by the public.

I don’t see baseball in there - do you? And this is a day for which they received a per diem and mileage. Taxpayers can’t request a refund, but we’re looking into whether ethics complaints are appropriate, or if there is any recourse at all for the voters who have been stolen from.

Additionally, it’s worth nothing that child support is a controversial and emotional topic that deeply affects people’s day to day lives. Our legislature, which feels empowered to more than double its pay without a by-your-leave, just blew off giving this bill any kind of decent hearing in favor of a baseball game.

So all you Tiger fans out there - there’s a poll in the sidebar just for you.

h/t 4everatiger

At CB Forgotston’s:

Tucker claimed that his amendment to double the base pay of leges was an attempt to follow the recommendations a citizens’ compensation committee made in 2003.

Unfortunately, for Tucker, Beam read the reports from the committee.

I guess it all depends on what the meaning of the word “recommendations” is.

And from the report that Forgotston links to -

Good government groups still think the proposed salary is too high. A spokesman for one of them said a $30,000 base pay, plus the $6,000 expense allowance, would put legislators more in line with other Louisiana workers, who average about $35,000 a year.

Other Louisiana workers don’t make that kind of money for a part time job. And at the rate government is growing in this state, we’re going to need second, part-time jobs to pay for it.

CB Forgotston shows that Jindal’s failure to veto this pay raise is a clear violation of a campaign promise - and has the campaign literature to prove it. So Jindal would evidently rather keep his word to the legislature than he would to the voters who put him in office.

So much for the Jindal Revolution - it’s obviously going to be more politics as usual.

You’re in the right place. We started developing this site at about 6pm on June 16 after reading the umpteenth comment on Nola.com expressing a desire to recall pretty much the entire legislature - at least the ones that voted for the pay raises.

We’re getting organized, and hearing from people statewide who are sick of getting the middle finger from their representation in Baton Rouge. Use the form and tell us how you will help.

We need people from every district. The recall process is nearly impossible - which is no accident, I’m sure. We need to start by getting organized, and connecting with other people in our districts. We can get started on the paperwork after that - one lesson learned from the Aaron Broussard recall attempt was not to file too early! Please keep checking for more information, and tell your friends to sign up and learn how they can get involved. Hope for success lies in a coordinated, organized grassroots effort.

We are also not limited to recall efforts. Realistically we know that most will be unsuccessful because of the way the rules are set up and voter apathy but there are certainly a lot of things we can do to remind our legislature that they work for us, that the legislature is intended to be part-time, not a career, and that we neither want nor need an elite, entitled class to rule us.

[Added: thanks for all the signups so far; as you can see we've added a couple of fields to the form. If you don't know your districts, find them here. You have to type the address in exactly, and for some reason upper case seems to help. If you're not registered to vote - do it now! Politicians don't care about what people think. They care about what angry, registered voters think.]

[Added x2: A few people have expressed concern about that we will publish their info. Your information will NOT be published or released to anyone. We will respond by email. At this point the response to this site is somewhat overwhelming so we may be slow to respond, but we will be replying as soon as possible.]

In the meantime - contact Jindal and demand a veto on the pay raises -

Email
Phone: 225-342-7015 or 866-366-1121 (Toll Free)
Fax: 225-342-7099

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