Democrats want Carcieri to return cost-of-living increase
9:33 AM Mon, Oct 29, 2007 | Permalink
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Projo Politics Blog |
By calling on legislators to return their raises of recent years, Governor Carcieri last week begged this question: is he going to return the 12 percent, $12,623, raise he received last January? State Democratic party chairman Bill Lynch asked the question in a news release titled: “Governor Hypocrite Strikes Again.” But others also posed the question to Political Scene in e-mails and calls. Said Lynch in a statement late last week: “I’d love to hear the governor explain why he believes it was acceptable for him to receive a $12,000 constitutionally mandated bump in pay, at the same time calling on members of the Assembly not to accept their $400 cost-of-living adjustment from last year. This is just the latest example of the governor saying one thing and doing another.” The simple answer from Carcieri spokesman Jeff Neal: No. The governor does not intend to return his first raise since taking office, in January 2003. “Generally speaking,” Neal said, the governor “believes that cost-of-living adjustments should apply across the board.” But, “if the General Assembly does not believe that certain state employees deserve a cost-of-living increase after 6 years, then by the same token they themselves should be willing to forgo their own cost-of-living increases. He is holding them to the same standards they are applying to those 14 state employees.” Carcieri was responding to what he characterized as the “inequitable and hypocritical” criticism of key lawmakers after it came to light last week that his administration sought raises of up to 19 percent — or $24,844 — for cabinet members in a May 24 memo to key lawmakers. Two weeks before the memo went out, the state’s official revenue-estimators lowered their expectations for the year by about $90 million. Two weeks after it went out, Carcieri announced his intent to lay off 1,000 state workers to stem a major budget crisis. He also called on lawmakers, at the time, to freeze union-negotiated wage increases. Asked last week why his committee did not provide money for the directors’ raises, House Finance Chairman Steven Costantino, D-Providence: “It was absolutely the wrong message you wanted to send in terms of the budget.” Echoed Senate Finance Chairman Stephen Alves, D-West Warwick: “We are looking at layoffs. He is looking at going back to the unions for concessions, changes in pensions. I certainly didn’t think it was appropriate.” “The governor doesn’t particularly object to the legislature accepting yet another pay increase for itself,” Neal said. “They should either approve of the idea of pay increases for everyone, or reject them across the board. ... What the governor has said is that these approximately 14 individuals who have not received similar pay increases since 2002 deserve the same treatment as everyone else.” As to why Carcieri did not seek pay raises for his directors earlier in his tenure, Neal said: “As you know, the state has faced serious spending shortfalls each and every year since the governor was first elected. In order to save money, the governor decided to delay recommending cost-of-living increases for department directors.” Why then did he seek cumulative increases this year? “You can’t delay forever,” Neal said. “You cannot ask these people not to receive pay increases year after year without end. At some point you have to provide them with equity.” The governor — like the members of the General Assembly — receives raises under terms spelled out in law. The state Constitution provides the lawmakers with annual increases tied to a federal cost-of-living index. Their latest 3.2 percent raise hiked their annual pay by $418, to $13,508. Under state law, the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, general treasurer and attorney general are entitled at the beginning of each new four-year term to a pay increase equivalent to “the total percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers published by the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Northeast Region for the four previous fiscal years, but in any event not to exceed 12 percent.” As Political Scene reported in January, the last automatic pay raise for the general officers — no vote required — increased Carcieri’s pay by $12,623, to $117,817 a year; Attorney General Patrick Lynch’s pay from $94,121 to $105,416, and the pay for the jobs held by the state’s newest general officers — Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts, Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis and Treasurer Frank Caprio — from $88,584 to $99,214. --By Katherine Gregg, Steve Peoples, Edward Fitzpatrick and Scott MacKay 
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It is constate back and forth. The General Assembly is a corrupt group of union backers. Why is it that when there is hint of corruption in the GA the public does not have the opportunity to comment? Looks like the Projo continues to slant all State Gov. news stories against the Gov and his team and consistently downplays the General Assembly's ineptness. Murphy is now himself involved in a nastly little piece of business and would "never abandon" his pal Alves. Just ridiculous. They all need to be voted out of office.
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It is very clear that Bill Lynch is a disingenuous politician his spiteful and selfserving argument against raising the directors' salaries after four years of no pay hikes. It is embarrassing to live in Rhode Island when its Democratic politicians behave this way. And nothing will ever get done. Nevertheless, these are the same politicians who are more than happy to raise the amount of handouts going from the state to the illegal immigrants pounding down the door to get into RI. When is enough enough?
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The assembly passed a law to process 17 year olds as adults in order to save money. This idea ended up actually costing more money than it would save. It will cost over two million dollars to correct this blunder. I bring this up to show how the legislature handles money. I think they should put as much effort into really fixing the budget mess as they do griping over the governor's pay rate. Why don't they put their raises towards the new debt they just created. This is just a smoke screen by the assembly to hide their ineptness.
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The two actions, layoffs and raises for department heads are not related in their affect on the taxpayer.
For years, our legislators have been rewarding their political cronies with state jobs. Not necessarily the best or the brightest for those positions they have made government expensive and less efficient. The Governor is cleaning out the duplication and the unnecesssary jobs that have relentlessly inflated the cost to taxpayers while providing no better service. It's a cronyism clean-out that has been long overdue. The average guy out here is paying these crushing taxes and is now being targeted for more because of the looming financial crisis. The Governor is extending a helping hand by lessening the crushing burden we all live with. The jobs he has eliminated weren't needed. We shouldn't be wasting tax dollars on them.
This is not the case for department heads. We need bright,capable people in those positions. The Governor has searched in the private sector for talented individuals who are willing to interrupt their earning power in industry to serve their state. They could make more and would receive annual raises in private industry. Their willingness to use their abilities to help the people of Rhode Island should be rewarded, not be penalized. They should never have had to go 6 years without a raise. It's not fair.
Now we come to Democratic Chairman Bill Lynch, whose family, has made a killing off state government. Just look at the salaries, retirement packages and cost-of-living increases his family members, friends and political cronies have received and are enjoying. He is an absolute hypocrite, after decades of abuse, to make a political issue out of the Governor's reasonable and justified actions. You will notice, however, that he has been silent about the corruption of members of his own party, which have hurt the taxpayers of our state over and over and over again. Isn't that the reason we are in this fiscal mess? Why does the Journal give credibility to his antics?
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It looks like we all now know Speaker Murphy's position on 'Corruption'. He condones it.
As I suspected all along, it seems he's in it up to his ears.
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