Kudos to three GOP state senators who have taken a principled stance that would have given many of us pause.
Three state senators have refused their annual $18,840 expense allowance increase that House and Senate members voted themselves last week.
Sens. Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery, and Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, said Tuesday they refused the pay raise and instructed the Senate paymaster to delete the raise from their monthly checks.
Erwin was adamantly opposed to the pay raise and even told the protestors in front of the Statehouse, “I will not take the pay raise today, tomorrow, or forever.” (He also said on the Senate floor that he would not accept the pay raise.)
Byrne and Dixon were adamantly opposed, though I can find no record of them saying that they would not accept the pay raise if it passed.
Still, these three stood on principle. They acted on their convictions that the pay raise was unreasonable by returning the taxpayers’ money back to the “cash-strapped General Fund.”
Hats off to these three.
An extra $1500 per month is not chump change, and walking away from it is no small act in my book.
Then there are legislators like Sen. Arthur Orr (R - Decatur) and Rep. Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) who are opposed to the pay raise and have said they will not keep the pay raise, but they have not filled out the available form to refuse all or part of the increase. Instead, they have said they are going to give the money to charities. Sen. Jabo Waggoner (R - Birmingham) is also on record as saying he will give a “good portion to charity.”
If they feel that the raise is unmerited and that they cannot accept it, shouldn’t they acknowledge that this is money from Alabama taxpayers and return it to the “cash-strapped General Fund?” I respect their stances that the pay raise is unreasonable, but should Alabama taxpayers be footing the bill to support charities of these legislators’ choosing?
If they want to stand on principle that this pay raise is undeserved and that they will not accept it, their stance would have more meaning if they filled out the form to leave Alabama taxpayers’ money in the “cash-strapped General Fund.” An extra benefit for these gentlemen is that it would leave no room for anyone to doubt the veracity of their claims that they are not accepting the pay raise.
Again, hats off to Byrne, Dixon, and Erwin.
Edited for clarity, 10:32 a.m.
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