A Welcome New Look at Raises

In 1990, with a sigh of relief, the California Legislature turned over the onerous job of setting salary levels for elected state officials to a new commission. At last, the monkey was off the backs of the lawmakers, who had taken incredible heat every time they voted to increase their own salaries, even by a relative pittance.

Outraged citizens accused the Legislature of trying to sneak raises through with little public attention. Often they were right. But with voter approval of Proposition 112, the task was given to a seven-member commission appointed by the governor.

Well, the monkey may have moved, but the protests on pay raises for public officials are just as intense. Meeting in virtual obscurity in Burlingame on March 26, the salary commission voted 4 to 3 to raise the pay of all of California’s elected officials by 26% to 34% effective Dec. 1.

The governor’s salary is set to go from $131,040 a year to $165,000 and the base pay of the 120 legislators from $78,624 to $99,000. The outcry was predictable but was even greater than it might have been because of bad timing and the seemingly secretive way the commission acted. The vote came as state employee unions were engaged in protracted negotiations with the Wilson administration for their first general pay increase in three years.

The protests over the pay raises are so heated that the commission will meet again Thursday in Sacramento to give opponents a chance to vent their anger. Members may or may not decide to reconsider their March vote. The commission desperately needs to save some face and regain some credibility, if that is possible.

Many had thought the idea of an independent salary-setting body was a move in the direction of good government. Perhaps so. But the commission seemed to have forgotten the most basic rule of good government: Make decisions only in full public view and after an informed populace has had a chance to be heard. Ignore that rule and the monkey will never go away.