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TRIAL BALLOON
The first section of Saturday's New Orleans Politics column/compendium by the Picayune's Bruce Eggler features a plea of poverty by an unnamed Councilmember or members. LINK. They, apparently, would like to have a raise from their current rate of $42,500 but would have to vote it for themselves. That would, of course, rev up the radio yakkers at WWL and have many citizens sharpening their pitchforks. Here's the kicker to Eggler's piece:
Without a significant raise, some of the incumbents may decide they can't afford to spend another four years at City Hall. On the other hand, they know that voting for a raise risks a public backlash that could doom their chances of winning.
Call it a lose-lose situation
Any thoughts as to which Councilmember floated this trial balloon? I'm thinking one of the Cynthias since James Carter would have had take some initiative in speaking to Eggler instead of sticking his finger in the air to figure out which way the wind was blowing.
I don't care which one of them floated it - it's high time we started
paying our city councilpeople a reasonable salary. You shouldn't have to
be independently well-off, or have to take a serious paycut in order to sit
on the council, which, unlike the state legislature, really is a full-time
job.
I agree. I think it represents a form of ethics reform. $42k a year creates
barriers for people that might otherwise look to run for public office. It
ensures that only rich people run. I think that salary should be doubled,
take home cars should be taken away, and City Councilors should have to be
fulltime city employees because it is a full time job demanding full time
attention.
"some of the incumbents may decide they can't afford to spend another four
years at City Hall."
I like your reasoning about it wasn't Carter, but I guess it would be
suspicious if he were as high profile as other council members. I assume
he's less financially established and has a younger family than the other
council members, so he'd probably have more need to keep active in his law
practice...unless he was making more than $42K as a councilman.
