The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ralston: Lawmakers’ pay raise proposal is easy target
Some Georgia lawmakers have slammed a recent recommendation that the pay of members of the General Assembly jump 70 percent in 2019, but House Speaker David Ralston isn’t one of them.
He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution what many state lawmakers have long said: that serving in the House and Senate has become a full-time job, despite the $17,342-a-year salary.
“I deal, always, every session, with a member who comes in and simply can’t stay there any longer because of the pay,” said Ralston, R-Blue Ridge.
Ralston’s House pushed legislation earlier this year to set up a compensation committee to look at the pay of lawmakers and statewide elected officials, such as the insurance commissioner, secretary of state and school superintendent.
The committee’s recommendations — released last month — included various pay raises that would take effect in 2019, after next year’s elections. But the one that caught the eye of some politicians was the proposal to raise the annual salary of rank-and-file lawmakers to $29,908.
Some legislators running for higher office in 2018 quickly shot down the recommendations, saying they wouldn’t support them.
“It doesn’t take a business degree to know that underperforming employees don’t deserve a raise,” said state Sen. Michael Williams, R-Cumming, who is running for governor. “How may Georgians are given a 70 percent pay raise without delivering promised results? None.
“We don’t deserve a raise until we deliver what we promise: limited government, lower taxes and fiscal responsibility.”
State Sen. David Shafer, R-Duluth, who is running for lieutenant governor, said, “I am not interested in taking a pay raise until we figure out how to adequately compensate our law enforcement officers.”
State lawmakers have long complained about the base salary. Many wind up quitting and returning to the Capitol to lobby their former colleagues, making 10 or 20 times what they earned passing laws during the threemonth-long legislative session.
But passing pay raises is always tricky political business, and it will be in 2018 because it is an election year. Lawmakers face re-election contests for their seats. Others are running for higher office.
Ralston said of the raise proposal, “It’s an easy thing to take potshots at.
“These are really full-time jobs,” he said. “When I walk into an Ingles supermarket in Blue Ridge in July and a guy comes up and wants to ask me a question about an issue or wants my help on something very legitimate, I can’t tell him, ‘We’re out of session, I am off the clock.’
“It’s a year-round job, and it’s a very demanding job. A lot of good people are having to leave.”
Ralston acknowledged the argument that lawmakers, and all elected officials, know the salary when they decide to run for office.
“But if you are a business owner or practicing lawyer or you have a job back home that is good for you to be at as opposed to not be at .... you are probably taking a (financial) hit,” he added. “That’s what’s hard for a lot of people to measure, just the expense of doing it.”
Ralston, a lawyer, closed his defense of the recommendations by citing former state Rep. Mike Snow of Rock Spring, who once told a reporter, “There are three kinds of people in the General Assembly: the independently wealthy, the retired and the broke.”
Under the recommendations, the salary for the House speaker would rise from about $99,000 to $135,000 in 2019. The salary for the lieutenant governor — who serves as the Senate’s president — would go from about $91,600 to $135,000.
Besides the salary, lawmakers are also eligible for government-subsidized health insurance and a small pension.