About that pay cut..

Posted at 12:59 PM on February 19, 2009 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

One day after Republicans announced a proposal to cut pay for state lawmakers and the state's five constitutional officers, DFL Sen. Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller implemented a state Senate hiring freeze for the remainder of the year, is freezing state Senate wages and will allow any member of the Senate to cut their salary by submitting a written request.

"These are common-sense measures to show the public that we are taking the budget deficit seriously and we will be sharing in the pain," said Sen. Pogemiller in a news release. "Our state is in the midst of a budget crisis and these actions are a continuation of the cutting we've been doing this year in the Senate. We will continue working together in these tough times and sharing in the sacrifice that many Minnesotans will be asked to make."

The move, which was approved by the Senate Rules Committee, is a body blow to the Senate GOP. That caucus recently released Dan Wolf as Chief of Staff and was reportedly looking to hire (which was first reported by MN Progressive Project) Norm Coleman's campaign manager.

Update:
I'm told that Dan Wolf is still currently serving as chief of staff.

GOP Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem was visibly upset and declined comment after the meeting. During the Rules Committee hearing, Senjem asked the DFL majority to delay the freeze until they could fill the chief of staff position next week. He described the move as "disturbing" and "not fair to the minority."

Pogemiller's proposal also puts those who back the pay cut in a compromising position since the press corp can regularly check to see which members decided to take the voluntary pay cut.

UPDATE
Senate Republicans say DFL leaders are using the hiring freeze to punish them for speaking out on budget issues.

During an afternoon news conference, Sen. David Hann, R-Eden Prairie, said he was disappointed by the DFL vote to prevent his caucus from filling a chief of staff position. Hann also claimed the freeze is payback for recent GOP proposals to trim spending. He said this week's Republican plan to reduce lawmakers' salaries was the last straw for Democrats.

"To us it clearly is politically motivated because they have gotten tired of our attempts to make issues of things that we believe are important," Hann said.

Hann insisted the Senate GOP caucus will continue proposing alternative ideas.

Comments (4)

Tom,


I hate to tell break the news to you and Rachel S-B, but I ran with the Cullen Sheehan joining Senate GOP caucuse story back on 2/11.


http://www.mnprogressiveproject.com/diary/2619/first-brodkorb-now-sheehan-to-join-republican-senate-caucus


The Big E

Posted by The Big E | February 19, 2009 2:26 PM

Sorry I didn't see it. I usually link to the person who breaks the story but I don't catch everything. I'll give you a h/t.

Truce?

Posted by Tom Scheck | February 19, 2009 3:16 PM

No worries, Tom, Big E was just making sure about the h/t. Thanks for the quick turnaround!

--Joe

Posted by Joe Bodell | February 19, 2009 4:03 PM

You really want to whack some state salaries? Quit worrying about legislators' paltry salaries--yes, they're paltry, even with per diem--and go after legislative staff. The ones at the top, not the secretaries:

http://extras.twincities.com/car/salaries/default.aspx

Get a load of these salaries--

Mike Charboneau, executive director of the DFL House Caucus, $123,000 a year (this is a partisan hack position, paying more than the governor).

Daniel Wolf, former GOP chief of staff, $119,959 (another partisan hack position)

Michael Kelmhelgen, executive director, rules committee, $119,959

Joel Michael, House research staff coordinator, $110,279

Mark Shepard, House research staff coordinator, $109,553 (how many of these six-figure "staff coordinator" positions do we need?)

Gary Hill, executive assistant to Senate majority caucus, $100,800 (not bad for an "assistant" eh?)

You have to go 23 names into the list of legislaive staff before you get to a job that pays under $100,000/year. Doesn't take too many of these kinds of positions to reach the same amount of savings the GOP is grandstanding about by cutting legislators' pay. And remember, many of these are jobs that are essentially part-time. When the Legislature's not in session, there's a lot of internet surfing and working on campaigns going on, especially on the partisan caucus staffs.

Foregt the GOP's headline-grabbing antics. There's your story, guys.

Posted by Capitol Insider | February 19, 2009 8:48 PM

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