December 13, 1978

A Nickel's Worth Of Legislature Is Enough

You can't WIN.

Elected representatives in Ohio, Iowa and Illinois have pitched President Jimmy Carter's anti-inflation program into the same dust bin that shelters the bones of President Gerald Ford's Whip Inflation Now effort.

By voting themselves pay increases of 28 to 31 percent, Ohio legislators have made a joke of the 7 percent maximum wage increase set by the national guideline.

Majority leaders in both the Ohio Senate and House rammed through the pay hike during a post-election session.

Senator Oliver Ocasek defended the Assembly action stoutly.  "Where was President Carter when Congress voted itself a raise?  Even the president's palace guard received a raise.  He is waking up a little late in his concern for inflation."

"I voted for a pay raise for myself because I think I'm worth it," said Ocasek.

Most taxpayers dispute the senator's self evaluation.  Public opinion polls indicate Americans feel they are over-legislated and over-taxed.  Increasingly they are demanding less government.

Voters have reached a point expressed by my five-year-old daughter during her first ride on a Ferris wheel.  Fascinated by the bright colors and lively music of the contraption, she begged to ride it.  After one revolution, however, she gasped, "Please, Daddy, tell the man I only want a nickel's worth."

William G. Batchelder, state representative from Medina, has the right idea.  He voted against the state pay hike and proposes adoption of the Kentucky and West Virginia legislative system.

Representatives in Kentucky are paid $125 per day while in session a maximum of 60 days per year.  In West Virginia, legislators receive a salary of $4,800 a year for sessions of not more than 90 days.

State Representative Alan Norris, of Westerville, has a similar approach.  He says he will introduce an amendment to the Ohio Constitution limiting lame-duck sessions to advertised issues.  Salaries would be set at $200,800, including expenses, which is about $2,000 a year less than the new rates.

More importantly, the Ohio Assembly would be held to 90 days of work during the first year of the biennial session, and to 45 days in the second year.

Norris declares he will go to the people with an initiative referendum petition if the legislature fails to put his proposal on the ballot.

Until the proposals of Norris or Batchelder are adopted, Ohio voters could consider keeping their representatives and senators at home.  It would save a lot of hassle and a lot of money.

A typical Ohio legislature introduces close to two thousand laws and regulations in each session of the Assembly.  Only a fraction of these are enacted, but the time spent debating the issues is about as productive as shoveling smoke.

It costs slightly more than $23.5 million to maintain the Ohio legislature for its biennium life - an average of $178,300 per member.

The legislature could take a two-year vacation - while each member drew his new, higher salary --, and the taxpayers would save $20 million.  In the meantime, everyone could catch up on the laws and taxes already imposed.

It is ironic that Lt. Gov. Richard Celeste should be the one to break a tie in the Ohio Senate and jump the guideline traces.  During the recent political campaign President Carter and members of his cabinet toured Ohio soliciting support for Celeste.  "I need Dick in the State House," the president said.

This is the same Celeste who wrote letters before the election demanding denial of a 25 percent rate hike for the Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company.

"I urge you to bring the full weight of your office and the power and influence of your anti-inflation machinery into action against the...  increase they are seeking," wrote Celeste to Carter.

"The request...is an outrage.  It should be rejected, if for no other reason than it violates the president's call for a strict respect for a 7 percent ceiling on price increases," wrote Celeste to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.  The price guideline, of course, is 5.5 percent.

In the past, Republican presidents and governors have saved legislators from their follies with vetoes.  Governor James Rhodes, however, surprised everyone by signing the pay raise bill after deleting increases for himself and Lt. Gov. Elect George Voinovich.

"The pay and rules governing the legislators is their own business," Rhodes stated.  "I am taking my action...  in order to give the General Assembly a maximum amount of time in which to reconsider their action."

That's a laugh!  It is like asking Dracula to make a donation to the Blood Bank.

State House observers report the flood of mail and calls criticizing the pay raise exceeds that of any recent issue.

Almost all the letters to Governor Rhodes urged him to veto the inflationary raises.  These writers now consider that the Governor failed in his constitutional duty to check the legislative branch of government in a clear excess.

The economic Ferris wheel continue to spin, and the guys at the controls won't let us off with only a nickel's worth.

Author: Lindsey Williams