Panel Rejects Pay Hikes for State Officials

A state commission refused Wednesday to increase the pay of elected state officials and California legislators after two new gubernatorial appointees said it would be imprudent to raise salaries in a time of continued fiscal uncertainty.

Members of the California Citizens Compensation Commission rejected, on split votes, motions to grant the officials cost-of-living hikes of 5%, 3% and 1.5%.

The commission then voted 6-0 to have no increase this year. There will be no further action until next year. One commission member was absent.

Commission Chairman Claude Brinegar, a retired Unocal executive who was U.S. secretary of transportation in the Richard Nixon administration, regretted the lack of action.

“I do not see the argument for denying a cost-of-living increase,” Brinegar said. “To argue on grounds of unpopularity isn’t a very strong argument.”

Brinegar, an appointee of former Republican Gov. George Deukmejian, said, “The commission was established to remove this process from politics.” The commission was created by voter initiative in 1990.

Brinegar added that the postponement of increases will make it more difficult to “catch up” to appropriate salary levels in the future.

The two new appointees of Republican Gov. Pete Wilson are Nicholas S. Bavaro of Modesto and Johnny Zamrzla of Palmdale.

Before any votes were taken, Bavaro said, “I will oppose any increase today and until such time that I can be shown more detailed information on the merits of the increase.”

Zamrzla concurred, saying that granting an increase “probably is not a prudent decision,” considering the state’s lagging economy.

The governor’s salary remains at $126,000 a year, although his press office said Wilson continues to take just $114,000. The lower figure reflects a 5% self-imposed cut when he took office and rejection of a 5% increase voted in 1995.

The Times disclosed in March that Wilson gave salary increases averaging 32% in rehiring a dozen former employees who had left in 1995 to join his short-lived presidential campaign.

The compensation commission rejected a proposal by member George Nesterczuk to raise the base salaries of the state attorney general and controller to more closely reflect the responsibilities of those offices.

Legislators’ base salary will remain at $75,600 a year.

Until the commission was created, the Legislature was responsible for setting salaries of state executives and its own members, a process that caused so much controversy that increases were repeatedly postponed.

After its creation, the commission generally revised officials’ salaries upward to reflect the cost of living and to bring them more in line with pay in other states and within local government in California.

The commission granted no increase for three years because of the recession. With improved fiscal conditions last year, members voted a 5% cost-of-living boost, similar to that given all other state workers.

A dozen citizens addressed the commission Wednesday, denouncing the idea of salary increases this year.

A representative comment came from Miriam Lewis of Sacramento, who said the state budget should not be stretched for increased salaries when welfare recipients and others are facing benefit cuts.