Hering:The governor makes $93,600 now, and for the chief executive of an enterprise with 50,000 or more workers, that’s low. But other states have nothing to do with it. What do we care what Arizona or Nevada pay?
Because the work is comparable? Because it's really the only thing the governor's job can be compared to? Did he seriously ask that?In public positions the guiding principle should be: Make the compensation high enough so someone can live on the money, but not so high that people seek office because of what they would earn if they win.
What about paying elected officials enough so they are less likely to be bought off by lobbyists and/or cushy industry jobs while in or when they leave office? Because it needs to be high enough to attract quality candidates? (Not that there aren't other factors, but there is certainly a pay rate that will cause otherwise good candidates to walk away.)Setting salaries for elected officials is hard because there’s no economic way to settle on an amount. Wages in those offices have no link to the amount the enterprise earns. (They don’t in mega-corporations either, where the principals often get raises even when their enterprise is about to go broke.
Wrong. What he could have said was "the standard rule of thumb regarding linking CEO pay to company earnings doesn't apply here, because a state is not a corporation." Then he could have offered a suggestion as to what metric we might use to look at elected official pay. Since he didn't, I'll offer the obvious: The overall health of the state. Or, to be more detailed, the social, economic, administrative, political, environmental, etc., health of the state.
Jeebus, one almost thinks he wants his readers to be dumber when they're done.
Friday, August 22, 2008
BRAIN HURT
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3 comments:
Dennis,
Of course he does, even though he probably would never admit it even to himself. The dumber the masses are, the less likely that Hasso loses his job, and the more likely that they continue like sheep to the slaughter... And cheer as democracy dies.
Blind as a bat, but enjoying the light
I would favor paying the governor 90% of the highest paid state employee. According to the Oregon Statesman Journal, the governor does not even make the top 100 in terms of salary.
The director of Alley Cat Allies, a nonprofit that does I'm not sure what beyond maintaining an informative website, makes $130,000 a year! Yes, that's an excessive salary, but our governor makes less?
Goodwill, our own country's sweatshop labor factory, has leadership making a half million a year, and in all liklihood there are very few truly disabled people working at Goodwill and even fewer gaining any skills or independence working there. Scam city. But still, the salary difference--Goodwill CEO, Portland area, a half million a year. Our governor, less than $100,000? Seems a little tipped.
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