Local lawmakers favor pay hike

Most Tri-Parish area state senators and representatives voted in favor of the controversial current bill in the Legislature significantly boosting state legislators’ annual pay.

The original state Senate bill increased legislators’ yearly pay from $16,800 to around $50,000, but the House pared the amount to $37,500. The bill is going back to the Senate to be voted on with the lower amount.

The $16,800 salary has been in place since 1980. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has said he will not veto the measure (Senate Bill 672) even though he does not support it. He fears a veto will harm support for other measures he favors.

State Sens. Butch Gautreaux (Morgan City) and Reggie Dupre (Houma) voted in favor of the pay raise, as did Reps. Jerry Gisclair (Larose), Damon Baldone (Houma) and Joe Harrison, who represents St. Mary and Terrebonne.

State Reps. Jerome Richard (Thibodaux) and Sam Jones (Franklin) voted against the pay increase. Rep. Gordon Dove of Houma was absent.

“It’s considered part-time only because we don’t get retirement,” Baldone said. “If it were full-time, we would have to get retirement. I put in full-time hours. … I lose a lot of money doing this job, but I’m not complaining.”

Baldone said the higher salary is needed to attract qualified people to the job.

“The average guy can’t do the job for $16,000 a year,” he said. “It shouldn’t be only for the wealthy. We need pay where people can afford to do the job, but not too high so that people would do it only for the salary.”

Gisclair also said a state legislator’s work is not a part-time job, though he was not in favor of the $50,000 annual salary proposal. He felt the $37,500 figure was a little high as well, but he voted for that amount.

“It’s not what people envision,” Gisclair said. “We have offices. Five days a week people come in. We assist people with Social Security issues, every problem you can think of. We direct people to the right department.”

“People don’t know the amount of work we put in,” he said. “It’s not an 8 to 5 job. It’s almost seven days a week.”

Gisclair sits on three committees. He said his work for the Natural Resources and Environment Committee will extend through the rest of the year.

“Once the session is out, work starts in a different phase,” he said, pointing out that state legislators in Texas receive $110,000 to $120,000 a year in retirement pay.

Richard said he was against voting for a pay boost benefiting himself. However, he favors giving the pay increase to legislators serving the next term beginning in 2012, even though the amount of the raise is high.

Richard’s vote accords with the U.S. Constitution. Following the ratification of the last amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1992, members of Congress cannot vote themselves a pay raise, but they can vote to increase the salaries of members of future Congresses.

Gautreaux, who asserted he was one of the principal negotiators of the legislative pay increase, said other state employees have received raises with little fanfare.

He said teachers have gotten regular pay bumps. A bill in this session would raise the salary of members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission from $45,000 to $75,000.

“Ten out of 10 people couldn’t tell you what are the other raises in the Legislature,” Gautreaux said. “There’s not one commentary or report about it.”

He said the Legislature has not raised its pay because of fear of public opinion.

“There’s a belief system that if you’re a member of the Legislature, you’re not honest or you wouldn’t be there,” he said. “To reward them flies in the face of all the corruption.”

Jindal’s governorship has been holier-than-thou, Gautreaux said, reflecting badly on the Legislature.

“It’s been the theme of Jindal’s campaign, continuing to talk about corruption in the Legislature, but it flies in the face of the facts.”

Gautreaux said only two state legislators have been found guilty of public corruption since 1995.

“The effect of the Jindal campaign is that he’s the only honest public official and the rest need to be reined in,” he said. “There’s a lot of frustration among legislators. We’re tired of the rhetoric. We’re tired of talk show hosts who don’t pay attention to the facts and rile up the public.”

“Legislators haven’t done this in 25 years because of irate phone calls and editorials,” Gautreaux said. “But we finally had the courage to do the right thing. I feel we will be vindicated.”