Looks like the Gang of Four has finally found an issue on which they can all agree.  After years of contentiousness, what’s it take for the gang to finally pull together?  

Yep, our Gang of Four, which includes 3 lame duck commissioners and the lame duck county judge, have come up with a budget plan that gives themselves a cushy pay raise.  According to our Fearless Leader, the county judge will get about a $470 per month raise, commissioners about $575 more a month. 

Our gang didn’t stop there.  The high sheriff will get a mere $300 raise - maybe it’s because he can’t seem to pass a jail inspection.  Elected constables will get $333 more, the County Attorney will get $559 more and county court-at-law judges will get a whopping $1,023 a month more. 

We see a couple of problems with all this largess for elected officials.  First and foremost being where is all this money going to come from?  The gang of four and all these other elected officials are busy picking your pocketbook with one hand while pledging to reduce taxes and spending with the other.  We have a bridge in Brooklyn for you if you really believe that.

To say that everybody else is doing it is the oldest excuse in the book.  It should sound familiar.  Got any tweeners or teens at home??  Moooooommmm…..  Equally bogus is to whine that’s what other officials are paid in other counties.  Every candidate knew what the job paid when they ran for it.  To shed crocodile tears over the salary of an office you run for is shameful. 

We don’t have a problem paying a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work.  Would a 40-hour work week be too much to ask?  Heck, we’d be happy and settle for 30 hours a week.  Commissioners are paid $70K for what is essentially a part-time job.  Don’t get us started on the hours the rest of our elected officials keep or don’t keep and the businesses they run from their county offices.  Walk through any county office on Friday afternoon and you will find mostly county employees toiling away trying to make their bosses look good. 

There is a reason it is called public service. If you want more money - get a real job.  Buy some cheese to go with that whine, but don’t expect the taxpayers to pay for it.  It is your money they are showering on themselves.  It’s your call and it’s your vote.  Keep that in mind in November.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 28th, 2006 at 12:31 pm and is filed under believe it or not. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.