OPINION: Salaries for state legislators? Forget it

Mar. 28—Greedy state legislators have turned the tide, at least for me.

New Mexico is the only state that doesn't pay its lawmakers a base salary. For many years, I supported changing that archaic system.

My reasoning was it would enable more people to run for office, and maybe some of them would bring talent and drive to the Capitol.

Under the existing system, the Legislature is dominated by retirees, public employees and lawyers. That makes it sort of a country club. People with means or a flexible work schedule can join. Membership for others is restricted.

But two recent maneuvers by sitting lawmakers have transformed me into an opponent of paying them anything.

The first was legislators last month voting themselves a 50% increase in their pensions. Yes, against all logic, the same lawmakers who do not draw a base salary can and do receive lucrative pensions.

Democratic Sen. Bobby Gonzales, a retired school superintendent from Taos, was a lead sponsor of the bill providing larger pensions for new legislative retirees.

Gonzales has been a state lawmaker since 1995. If he resigned today, his legislative pension would be about $84,000 a year.

Not bad for a politician who does most of his work in legislative sessions lasting either 60 or 30 days a year.

The formula for legislative pensions is convoluted. It involves the number of years lawmakers hold office and the daily expense allowance they receive when they are in session or on official business.

This year's allotment for a legislator's expenses was $231 a day. Pensions are based on 14% of that allowance, multiplied by 60, for every year of a lawmaker's service.

With the bump they gave themselves, legislators went from $1,940 to $2,911 in pension income for every year in office.

To qualify for a pension, legislators must contribute $1,000 a year and hold office for at least 10 years. Lawmakers can collect a pension at any age after their service ends.

These pensions are far better than any in New Mexico's private sector. Lawmakers contribute little, but they can reap enormous payouts thanks to taxpayer funding.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham should have stopped this madness by vetoing the increase. She instead signed the measure, a stroke of the pen that no doubt will be met with reciprocation when she wants some other piece of legislation to live or die.

After padding their pensions, a legislative panel authorized movement on a second project that might lead to lawmakers hiring staff members and opening regional offices.

Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, voiced a hypocritical objection to those ideas.

"I didn't take this job to keep dinging the taxpayers of New Mexico," she said.

Her stand for frugality has limits. Ezzell voted for the increase in legislative pensions, which might as well be known as the ding-a-ling bill.

Now in her 20th year in the House of Representatives, Ezzell is running for a four-year term in the Senate. She stands to gain at taxpayer expense from the pension bill.

As for opening offices for lawmakers, that would only serve to widen the state's divide between urban and rural locales.

If legislators could compute a hefty increase in their pensions, they can figure out how to open three or four offices in Albuquerque. More challenging would be setting up an office to assist constituents of Rep. Jack Chatfield, R-Mosquero. His far-flung district includes all or parts of Colfax, Curry, Harding, Quay, San Miguel and Union counties.

Chatfield and others representing sprawling districts have little to gain from a field office far from farms, ranches and small towns.

Hiring people to staff government offices would be a popular undertaking for urban members of the Legislature. Patronage powers translate to more votes.

Their field offices would make state government bigger but not better. Good legislators already know how to make the most of cellphones, internet conferencing and shoe leather.

Most of all, legislators know how to take care of themselves. They grabbed more cash for their pensions, and they're rambling on about additional spending for aides and offices.

What's a resident to do in protest? That's easy.

Lawmakers can never get a base salary unless voters approve an amendment to the state constitution. That's one election the mercenaries in power cannot win.

Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnmewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.