Lawmakers View Pay Raise With Caution : Legislature: An independent commission’s decision to boost salaries by $19,500 promises to become a ticklish campaign issue.

Ventura County’s delegation in the state Capitol is cautiously eyeing a controversial 37% pay raise, with only two legislators saying outright that they will accept the unexpected windfall.

Two more are pledging to study whether to take the money, and only one--state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), who has declined to run for reelection--went out on a limb Monday to praise the hefty $19,500 salary hike as “reasonable and appropriate.”

Legislators’ salaries were boosted Friday by an independent commission from $52,500 to $72,000 a year, setting the stage for what promises to become a ticklish campaign issue at a time when many voters are still reeling from Southern California’s economic downturn.

That fact was not lost on challengers Monday, some of whom stepped briskly forward to denounce the raises, which take effect in December.

“It’s not acceptable that while millions of California’s working people are struggling to make ends meet, state legislators have been granted a $19,500 pay increase,” said Bob Ream, a Democratic candidate in the 35th Assembly District, which includes most of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

But the two Assembly members who said Monday they will accept the pay increase declared they decided to do so only because the boost will not put an added burden on the state budget.

The increases, noted Assemblyman Nao Takasugi (R-Oxnard) and Assemblywoman Paula Boland (R-Granada Hills), will be paid from the Legislature’s existing funds.

“Yes, I’ll accept it, but only because it’s not costing the taxpayers any additional dollars,” Boland said.

Said Takasugi: “At this moment, it’s my intention to accept the pay raise. It’s out of our hands and I’m accepting the decision of the commission.”

Still, Takasugi said he hopes to kick some of the money back to community charities such as the Ventura County Rescue Mission and the Oxnard Boys & Girls Club.

The increases were adopted by a citizens panel formed as a result of Proposition 112, which voters passed four years ago in an effort to take salary-setting powers out of the hands of elected lawmakers.

Assemblyman Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria), who is running for state Sen. Hart’s seat, was vague about whether he would accept the raise or refuse it, as some legislators are vowing to do in this contentious election year.

“We have no control over what the independent commission did,” O’Connell said. “I don’t lease a car (at state expense) and I didn’t take the last increase. My actions speak for themselves.”

Asked if that meant he would decline this pay hike as well, O’Connell replied, “Not necessarily,” saying he was still studying the question. He said he believed--as the citizens panel did--that lawmakers’ salaries were too low and that raising their pay was “clearly appropriate.”

Commission members had stated that higher compensation was needed to attract qualified candidates who, under term limits, would need to take sabbaticals from their careers to serve in the Legislature.

That sentiment was echoed by Hart, who unlike the others does not face a campaign this year. “I think it’s reasonable and appropriate and I understand people disagreeing with it, but if you compare legislators’ salaries to salaries of members of Congress, judges and other persons with similar responsibilities, legislators are underpaid,” Hart said.

Because of pay and the lack of a pension, which voters stripped from lawmakers by adopting term limits, the only people attracted to the Legislature might be the independently wealthy and the young and inexperienced, Hart noted.

State Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), a candidate for her party’s nomination for lieutenant governor, said she is focusing on her statewide campaign and is undecided on the merits of the salary boost.

“I’m thinking very positively, and as lieutenant governor I don’t get a pay raise, so I’m not concerned,” Wright said. Should she lose that race, however, she will examine whether to take the raise for the remainder of her six-year term.

If elected, Ream, a former Hart legislative aide, said he would introduce a constitutional amendment in an attempt to abolish the citizens commission and roll back the raise. In the event he is unsuccessful, he pledged to donate the pay boost to “worthy public causes” in the district.

But Simi Valley attorney Donald Allan Cocquyt, a Democratic candidate for the 38th Assembly District seat held by Boland, said pay incentives are needed to attract the most qualified candidates.

“I’ve always enjoyed a good salary,” Cocquyt said. “It’s really difficult for people like me to make a decision to serve, and give something back. This will help.”

Santa Barbara real estate speculator Steve Decker, running in the 18th Senate District against O’Connell, said he would refuse the money if elected. But he does not disagree with the commission’s findings.

“Everyone has to earn a living,” Decker said. “In some instances there are people who are eminently qualified (for office) in the private sector that cannot afford to give up their current annual income.”

Dorothy S. Maron, the lone Democrat running against incumbent Republican Assemblyman Takasugi, said no one seeks public office for the money. “If I won and if I got the increase in salary, you could put it into scholarships.”

Craft, a Times staff writer, reported from Sacramento and McDonald, a Times correspondent, reported from Ventura.

* RELATED STORY: Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown says the raises are too small. A3