Lawmakers’ pay

Referencing Peter Lucas’ “Committees are a cash cow for lawmakers,” March 6). How can any Massachusetts taxpayer read in the paper that Senate legislators receive an extra 24% of their base pay in additional compensation for chairing a committee and not wonder if they’re being taken for a ride? Taxpayers may have assumed that chairing a committee was, in fact, a significant part of their legislator’s job already, without any additional compensation expected. As it turns out, that’s the reward for staying in the Senate president’s good graces. Stay in your lane and you’ll accumulate a nice little retirement nest egg.

What’s most disturbing about this is that, once elected, these legislators seem to coast along without any serious inquiry into their performance. Once in office, they are rarely confronted by their constituents about the quality of their work. There never seems to be a performance review. They pump up their compensation with questionable assignments and titles and then walk off into the sunset with a lifetime pension.

State senators are public servants. Technically, they work for and serve the taxpayers. Yet they seem to have no qualms about enriching themselves. I think it’s time for a performance review and a compensation rewrite. Pay them all a flat wage, say $70,000 a year. They can retire any time they wish, but their pension income is no longer based on their three highest years of compensation. Fix it at $50,000 with annual COLA increases, like Social Security. That will align their compensation with that of their constituents. After all, it’s not like they’re irreplaceable.