Legislators’ 37% Raise Criticized

Consumer advocates Ralph Nader and Harvey Rosenfield reacted angrily Saturday to news that state legislators will receive a 37% raise, calling for the abolition of a citizens’ commission that granted the salary increase.

“It’s obviously reckless and outrageous,” said Nader, who maintained that the wages of most Californians have remained stagnant over the last 20 years compared to inflation.

“It’s governing by double standard and governing by hypocrisy, which is not good for democracy,” he added.

Rosenfield, best known for his advocacy of insurance reform, pointed out in a statement that legislators also received a 30% raise in 1990.

“While working men and women in California struggle to pay the bills,” he said, “a pay raise (to legislators) is not merely inappropriate, it is an obscenity and an affront to the people of California.”

The California Citizens Compensation Commission, which granted the raise, was established in 1990 in an unsuccessful attempt at political reform by state voters, Rosenfield said.

“Instead, all they got was an elitist ‘citizens commission,’ ” he said.

Nader and Rosenfield urged the Legislature to draw up a ballot initiative to give voters an opportunity to abolish the commission at the polls.

The commission announced Friday that in order to attract qualified candidates to the Legislature, legislators’ salaries are to be raised from $52,500 to $72,000 per year, effective in December.