Charles Murray, chairman of the Citizens Compensation Commission, made his point loudly last November when he and the commission pared legislators’ salaries by 18 percent, and cut their living expenses and car allowances.
Legislators’ pay had been $116,208, and fell to $95,291. He announced last week that the commission is contemplating another 10 percent cut, which would bring them down to about $85,762.
Too often, legislators live down to our lowest expectations of them. Their standing among voters cannot get much worse. It sat at 16 percent in the most recent surveys by the Field Poll and the Public Policy Institute of California.
But a salary of $95,000 is reasonable for a senator who represents roughly a million Californians, and an Assembly member whose districts include almost 500,000 people.
A further 10 percent would be punitive. The commission supposedly is independent. But Murray’s timing is such that it seems clear he’s following the lead of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appointed him.
Murray, a Los Angeles insurance agency owner, announced the proposed cut as Democrats sought to undermine a June ballot measure to create an open primary system in California. Lawmakers and Schwarzenegger agreed to place the measure on the June ballot as part of last year’s budget deal.
The announcement also followed Schwarzenegger’s veto of legislation that Democrats said would shave the deficit, but which Schwarzenegger dismissed. He called on lawmakers to “act on actual spending reductions that will address California’s fiscal emergency.”
Schwarzenegger, worth hundreds of millions, takes no salary as governor. But California has no House of Lords. We need to encourage people to serve who are smart, accomplished and savvy. We do not want to reserve what should be public service solely for rich people.