LETTER: Legislators’ money is deserved
Editor,
I know it’s really cool these days to hate the Legislature. Every time something goes wrong I hear the phrase “It’s because of the Legislature.”
“No classes in my major are being offered this summer, ‘It’s because of the Legislature.'”
“They’re not serving my favorite snack at The Hub anymore. ‘It’s because of the Legislature.'”
“Tuition is being raised. ‘It’s because of the Legislature.'”
“There is no snow. ‘It’s because of the Legislature.”
It’s easy to see why the Utah State Legislature has turned into a whipping boy. They are painted as money-greedy selfish pigs.
There are many scandalous things the Legislature could be criticized for, but receiving the $20-a-day raise is not one of them. I work very closely with a representative. Good man. He grew up in a humble home. He excelled in high school and was accepted to an Ivy League undergraduate program. He graduated from law school cum laude and was recruited to work for a prestigious environmental law firm out of L.A.
He moved to southern Utah where he worked on the forefront of the most prominent environmental issues in the state. He is an extremely hard worker, intelligent, honest, and an all around nice guy. Upon taking office he was forced to forfeit a large percentage of his court cases and took a significant pay deficit. I believe The Statesman wants to paint a picture of the legislators eating caviar and living it up at The Red Lion. This is not the case. In light of the money lost, the work he renders is almost purely a service.
There was a major flaw in logic in the Our View on page 12. To say a legislator “only (has) to work 45 days out of the year” is completely erroneous. Besides the 45 days of legislative session, the legislator I work with spends 40 hours per week as a representative. That includes: traveling to interim meetings once a month at the capitol, resolving concerns of constituents and or taking care of specific needs.
Researching bills takes up at least 10 hours per week, and additional travel to Salt Lake City (at his own expense) for specific board meetings. So the legislator is expected to maintain two full-time jobs. If you do the math it pays close to $6 an hour. And I’m being very conservative with my numbers. The dudes working the grill at McDonald’s make more per hour than the legislators.
If we set up the system where the average hard-working citizen can’t afford to be in the legislature as a part-time job, then only the wealthy will be able to afford to be elected. And the wealthy govern much differently than the average citizen. If we want a fair cross-section of society running our state then the status quo is not acceptable.
I don’t mean to say that this story shouldn’t be printed, just that it shouldn’t be embellished. I agree with The Statesman on one point. “Speak out.” Everyone should know and have a relationship with his representative.
Anne Stanle