Trib: Legislators eschew ethics talk
In a weekend column, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune comments:
As ethics reform measures go, what Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, sought to accomplish was fairly modest stuff.
He wasn’t trying to stop any current lawmaker from cashing in on his or her legislative service. They still would be able to join a fairly long line of prominent veterans who have enjoyed a peculiar state pension spike available only to them.
It works like this: When Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appoints a legislator to a high-paying administrative post, that lawmaker gets the best of both worlds. He multiplies his new salary against all those years of legislative service. Virtually no other part-time state worker gets the same break.
So over the years, the conservative Idaho Freedom Foundation’s IdahoReporter.com has compiled a list. More here.
* This story was originally published as a post from the blog "Huckleberries Online." Read all stories from this blog