O.C. Legislators Raise Their Guard in Pay Hike Reaction

After nurturing their image as tax-fighting, anti-spending conservative Republicans, state legislators from Orange County have muddled their message with a decidedly mixed reaction to a state commission’s ruling to boost their pay by 37%.

And the reluctance of some local legislators to reject the pay raise has been taken up as an issue by other Republicans seeking election to open Assembly seats.

Hoping to quickly establish their own records on the controversial pay raise, two local Assembly candidates issued statements that if elected they would reject the pay hike. A third candidate said he would donate it to charity until the state’s unemployment rate drops.

The salaries for state legislators will go up in December from $52,500 to $72,000 a year, following approval last week by the California Citizens Compensation Commission, which was created by the passage of Proposition 112, a reform measure, in 1990. The legislators also receive an annual expense allowance totaling about $21,000 annually.

In voting for the pay hike, the commission compared legislators’ salaries to those of other state officials and judges, who receive more. The commission also noted the pay increase was needed to attract qualified candidates.

But the pay raise approval created a firestorm of controversy across the state. In Orange County, some legislative offices said they had received far more than their usual number of telephone calls, mostly in opposition.

In Orange County, only state Sen. Rob Hurtt (R-Garden Grove) said he will either refuse the increased salary or donate it to charity.

Local legislators who support the pay hike include Assemblymen Mickey Conroy (R-Orange), Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach), Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside), Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) and Sen. William Craven (R-Oceanside).

Ferguson is leaving the Assembly to run for the state Senate seat being vacated by Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), who is running for the Orange County Board of Supervisors. Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove) also is leaving to run for state attorney general.

Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), long numbered among the county delegation’s most stubborn tax fighters and budget cutters, is “undecided at this time” whether he will except or reject the pay raise, said Christopher Jones, his chief of staff.

Perhaps a more telling sign of the issue’s sensitivity is the reluctance of some legislators to publicly state a position.

Assemblyman Ross Johnson (R-Fullerton) didn’t even particularly want to talk about the salary hike. Asked what he thought about the issue, Johnson replied: “I have no opinion I care to express.” Asked if he would take the pay raise, Johnson replied: “I think I expressed myself.”

Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress) was not available for comment.

Many who favor the higher pay said that if they did not take the money, it would be spent elsewhere--probably by the Democratic leadership--because the amount set aside for the Legislature is established by law. Also, lawmakers would be taxed on the higher salary even if they returned it or donated it to charity, they added.

“It could mean (the Democratic leadership) would be hiring more Democratic staff up here,” Morrow said, adding that they could spend the excess funds however they wish. “That’s the last thing I want.”

Morrow, Conroy and Ferguson also maintained that the financial strain created by legislative duty prevents good candidates from seeking office. Younger lawmakers with families and living away from home much of the time need the financial help, Conroy said.

“I would have argued differently earlier in my life. But I’ve come to realize that many people who come to Sacramento have sacrificed a great deal and basically have a hard time making ends meet on fifty-two five,” Conroy said.

He also noted that some Capitol staff members make much more than lawmakers, even after this raise.

“If the press was fair,” Conroy said, “they could reach over and show a whole bunch of people in government who are making a whole lot more for doing a whole lot less.”

Craven said many city managers and Orange County supervisors still will make more than state legislators.

“I have been in government for 35 years and I have never run into a time that people did not complain about a pay raise,” Craven said. “I am happy to have it, and I am most appreciative.”

While Ferguson has no argument with the increased pay, he conceded it was bad timing.

“This recession is so deep, this is the wrong message to send the public,” he said. “People don’t think the Legislature has done enough to get the state out of this recession and that a raise isn’t deserved.”

Meanwhile, Pringle said he was shocked by the commission’s decision.

“The salary commission was set up by the people to make sure legislators don’t set their own rate of pay. We have no input in the process. Whatever the salary rate is set at is what we’ll get paid,” Pringle said.

Hurtt, who owns a manufacturing plant that grosses in excess of $20 million a year, “feels that, considering the lousy shape they’ve left California in, no one in the Legislature deserves a pay raise,” said Joe Yocca, his chief of staff.

The issue flared up in the Republican contest for 69th Assembly race, where candidate Martin Ageson of Santa Ana, who said he would reject it, criticized Conroy for accepting the raise. Conroy has endorsed Anaheim businessman Jim Morrissey in that race.

“I think it’s obscene for a state legislator to claim that they have done such a good job that they are entitled to a pay raise,” Ageson said.

Morrissey pledged to donate the extra pay to charity until the state’s unemployment rate drops from the current level of 9.6% to 5.5%. A campaign spokesman said Morrissey is not criticizing Conroy’s decision because Morrissey believes the issue is one of “personal choice.”

Meanwhile, Marilyn Brewer, a Republican candidate in the 70th Assembly District, said she would refuse the salary increase, because “even in normal times, a salary increase of this magnitude is not something that I would ever accept.”