Minnesota - sets up one of those tedious legislative pay boards to rubber-stamp $500,000 salaries.
I'm actually voting for it. Here's kind of my thoughts:
1-There should be no job where you can simply vote yourself a pay increase, that's common sense.
2-Public pressure on legislators in response to pay increases is not necessarily a good thing either. We have one DFL incumbent retiring this year for purely financial reasons, the legislative salary is too low for her to continue to support her family with what she works while the legislature is in session. I know that $31k/year for an effectively part time job is a pretty good pay, but one often forgets legislators have other expenses, especially outstaters who need to get a residence near St. Paul too. So better to have an independent body avoid these thorny issues than let it be so prone to standard greed or populist outrage.
