Shocked !!!… I tell you… Shocked !!!
Shocked !!!…… I tell you……. Shocked !!!
Indeed, there is much humor to be found in the Legislature. Humor, at least in my opinion, was rampant this past week after the Legislature passed a pay raise resolution. Never have I seen so many legislators - on both sides of the aisle - be so quick to deny any knowledge of what was happening. The pay raise has been discussed in all caucuses, including the amount, since the organizational session. It was discussed with the Governor, who had indicated that he would be more favorable in the regular session rather than the organizational session. Democrats and Republicans have been told it was coming, via voice vote, since January. We just didn’t know the exact date it would come. Any hint of something sneaky or tricks being used to pass this resolution is untrue and, quite frankly, does a disservice to the whole Legislature. Everyone knew it was coming. Very few seem to want to admit it.
A form is available in the accounting department where members may decline a pay raise. Giving to charity is nice but unverifiable. This is taxpayer money. Forms can be provided to each legislator. We’ll see how many give it back to the state treasury.
Now, this week in the legislature.
This week I expect to have House votes on the following:
- Emergency funding for Enterprise High School By Rep. Terry Spicer (D-Elba)
- Pac to Pac Transfer ban by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin (D-Guntersville)
- My Electioneering Communication (Disclosure) bill
In committee action this week, I expect to address the “Free the Hops” (gourmet beer) bill by Rep. Thomas Jackson (D - Thomasville) in the Tourism subcommittee that I chair and recommend approval to the full Tourism Committee.
The Constitutions and Elections Committee will not meet this week. I have referred several bills, including the Photo Voter ID bill to the subcommittee chaired by Rep. Tommy Sherer (D-Jasper). I have asked Rep. Sherer to study the bill. There will need to be “give and take” on this bill to gain final passage.
I have referred the bill to have Constitutional Convention referendum to a subcommittee headed by Rep. Jack Page (D- Gadsden) and I have referred a bill requiring internet posting of campaign finance reports to a subcommittee chaired by Rep. Joe Mitchell (D-Mobile).
Thanks for letting us know what was really going on Rep Hinshaw. As usual there are politicans trying to out-rhetoricize each other on the issue so it’s appreciated for you to let us know what’s actually going on underneath all the “outrage”.
Comment by Anonymous — March 13, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
Let’s keep everyone honest here. According to this article from the Mobile Press Register, Riley promised to veto any legislative pay raise–especially the $18,000 sought by Legislative Democrats. It also details how Democrats conspired to make the vote secret so they could not be held accountable by their constituents by changing the rules on recorded and voice votes. Rep Hinshaw, If you believe legislators deserve a pay raise, then have the guts to debate it openly and vote for it on the record.
Senators: Democrat sought a quiet raise
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
By SEBASTIAN KITCHEN
Capital Bureau
MONTGOMERY — Several Republican state senators said they were approached by a Democratic colleague during this month’s organizational session and asked to vote in favor of an $18,000 pay raise for legislators without a recorded vote.
Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, and Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery, said Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, made the pitch. Dixon said Bedford also asked them to encourage Gov. Bob Riley, a Republican, not to veto the bill.
“I don’t think things like that should go through the Senate without people voting on it, without a recorded vote, senator-by-senator,” Byrne said.
In the Senate, votes can be recorded, which means that a roll call is taken, with each lawmaker stating how he is voting on a bill. With voice votes, those individual decisions are not recorded.
Bedford did not return phone calls from the Press-Register.
No action was taken on the proposed raise during the organizational session.
Dixon and state Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, said legislators were elected two months ago knowing their salary.
“If it (the raise) was more modest, more in line with what people I represent would get in a pay raise, it would be different,” Dixon said. He pointed out that serving as a legislator is not a full-time job.
Regular legislative sessions in Alabama can last no more than 30 working days, spread over 105 calendar days. Lawmakers also can be called back to Montgomery for special sessions. The number of special sessions varies from year to year.
Alabama legislators earn about $30,710 in salary and expense allowances in a typical year without special sessions. Some wanted an $18,000 increase because the cost of living has increased since their last pay raise in 1990.
Byrne said he personally watched Bedford approach senators with a document in hand, which he also showed Byrne. The document outlined what senators would be paid if they had received the same pay increases as state employees since 1990.
Byrne said the proposed increase to about $48,000 would boost the pay of Alabama legislators above that of other states in the region.
Dixon, Byrne and Brooks said they are opposed to the raise and to voting on it without a record of how their colleagues vote.
Dixon said a voice vote would be an attempt to “fool the taxpayer.”
Riley met with about a dozen legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, during the organizational session about the pay raise, according to Jeff Emerson, the governor’s communications director.
Riley told them he did not agree with a pay raise and would veto the measure, Emerson said.
“We just went through an election,” Emerson said. “Nobody ran on the idea of increasing legislators’ pay. To come right out of the box and indicate this is the top priority is totally wrong. We need to do a lot of other things.”
Riley believes, according to his spokesman, that all votes — especially on a pay raise — should be recorded.
Sen. E.B. McClain, D-Midfield, said pay raises are discussed every quadrennium but said he was not approached at the recent organizational session to approve a pay increase on a voice vote.
“I do not care if it is a recorded or voice vote if it is something I want or am interested in,” he said. “I don’t need a voice vote to hide behind.”
McClain said he has never voted against any pay raise and would be supportive of a salary boost. He said legislators know how much they will make when elected but added that “regardless of who you are, in any job you take, you don’t want to stay at that level forever.”
He said a pay increase is not a “paramount” issue for him.
Dixon said he believes the 12-member Republican caucus is united against a voice vote on pay raises. Republicans have said new Senate rules changed the procedure to call for a voice vote, which they believe is intended to deter the minority from requesting a recorded roll call vote. Democrats control the 35-member Senate.
Brooks said he was not approached by Bedford but said “there certainly has been a lot of talk in private around the State House about some legislators considering seeking a pay raise without a voice vote.”
“This is an issue the electorate has an understandable interest in, and I think they need to know how their elected representatives are voting on such an issue,” he said.
Brooks and Emerson said legislators should be focused on more important issues than raising their own pay.
Sen. Jim Preuitt, D-Talladega, said no one has discussed the issue with him recently but said he believes legislators deserve a raise. He said he was uncertain how much of an increase he would back.
Several other Democrats, including Senate President Pro Tempore Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove, could not be reached for comment about the raise.
Comment by Susan — March 13, 2007 @ 2:58 pm
if a legislator is talking, he is lying. If a complete sunshine, transparent ban on pac to pac transfers doesnt pass,then Mr Hubbert, er Hinshaw will have to face the music. The time has come for accountability and just desserts.
Comment by publius — March 13, 2007 @ 8:55 pm
Publius, you will be pleased to know that the proposed ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers passed the House unanimously.
Comment by Danny — March 13, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
Thank you Rep. Hinshaw for your comments and updates on the Legislature this week. The Democracy Defense League (DDL) a non-partisan, multi-racial organization dedicated to the elimination of VOTER FRAUD IN ALABAMA through LEGAL MEANS was formed in Greensboro, Hale Co., on January 27, 2005, out of sheer frustration of corrupt elections in Alabama. 114 voters, black and white, agreed that they were fed up with the status quo of horrendous absentee ballot abuse and realized that the current election laws are totally inept in preventing the corruption. Corrupt elections DO produce corrupt government. We have taken our mission statewide and over 1,700 voters in 42 counties agree with us that the loopholes in the laws are the problem. We have 19 proposed pieces of legislation (Photo ID is one of them) of which 15 have been deemed constitutional by Michael Ciamarra of the Alabama Policy Institute. He has not had time to review the other 4. VOTER FRAUD has always been a problem but the Montgomery Adv. calls it a “becoming huge” problem in an investigative report article on October 8, 2006 (front page). Hale Co. absentee ballot percentages topped out at 58.9% of one candidate’s votes in the May 3, 2005, House Rep. race.
The state average in any given election or referendum is usually 2-4% for the absentee box. All of these facts as well as our proposed legislation can be seen on our website: www.thedemocracydefenseleague.com and we welcome you to view it.
We are not going to give up on this effort to bring HONEST ELECTIONS to the citizens of Alabama. Voters are being contacted continuously to join with us and if it takes 10,000 voters (which it shouldn’t) to get the legislators to act, then that is what we will do.
I am the Sec/Treas/Media person for the DDL and welcome any voters who agree with us. There is no HIDDEN AGENDA with us. Rep. Hinshaw, we would appreciate your support in helping us accomplish this for YOUR constituents. Thank you.
Comment by Beverly Bonds — March 16, 2007 @ 6:55 am
P. S. Rep. Hinshaw, the Mobile Press Register in an editorial recently said that the legislature would do well to pass all of our proposals.
I meant to say that the 114 voters who agreed with our mission that night on 1-27-05, joined to form the DDL.
Comment by Beverly Bonds — March 16, 2007 @ 7:00 am
Representative Hinshaw, according to an ad paid for by Let Alabama Vote (Judge Jerry Stokes, chairman) that was published in The Birmingham News prior to the November elections you had returned a questionnaire to Let Alabama Vote and were among the 32 candidates for seats in the house and senate who said that they would not only support Initiative and Referendum legislation if they were elected, but that they would also sponsor it. I thank you for keeping your word by being a co-sponsor of HB263.
As Chair of the Constitution and Elections Committee I hope you will make every effort to get HB263 approved by the committee and then scheduled for debate on the house floor at the earliest possible date.
I should mention that the Democracy Defense League (mentioned in a prior comment) publicly supports the effort to obtain I&R because its members realize that it is a tool the organization could use to further its legislative agenda if the legislature doesn’t act on it.
Why none of the senate candidates who made that promise and were elected have not introduced any I&R legislation raises a question as to their integrity.
Comment by Don — March 17, 2007 @ 8:56 am
For Susan: I stand by my comments and assertions and I believe the article you referenced backs it up
For Beverly: We are studying 2 different Photo ID bills…One By Rep. Jack Williams the other by Rep. Gerlas Allen. They are being studied by the Elections Sub-Committee chaired by Rep. Tommy Sherer. Other bills will be considered when they are introduced and requested. I’m lokking for consensus on the photo ID bills
For Don: House slowdown is starting to have an affect on the timing of consideration of bills on the floor. Senate may not be the issue if we don’t pick up the pace. We thought we would have ethics, Illegal Immigration and Disclosure Bill considered by now. More on this later
Comment by Rep. Hinshaw — March 18, 2007 @ 11:33 am
Forgive my mispellings…got in to big of a hurry and failed to use spellcheck
Comment by Rep. Hinshaw — March 18, 2007 @ 11:34 am
Rep. Hinshaw, I’ve been stewing over your post since I read it a few days ago. I’ll respond under the pretense that you’re being forthright about the extent of the knowledge of this pay raise before hand. If what you say is true, then you have essentially solidified in the minds of Alabamians what we all suspect, which is that our government is little more than a cabal of crooks. If everyone was indeed aware of what was going on and didn’t mention a single word to the press or their constituents (a situation I find HIGHLY unlikely) then I am flat disgusted with the whole lot of you.
What has infuriated the populace isn’t the mere act of asking for a raise, but the manner in which it was done and the magnitude of the raise. Every one of you knew the pay when you ran and no one suggested (or at least didn’t get much press for suggesting) a 62% pay raise during the campaign. You (by you I am speaking to the entire legislature, not just you) only passed this pay raise because you are so arrogant in your belief that the voters will forget in four years that you think you can do anything. I’m sick of it and I’m going to dedicate the next four years to proving you wrong.
As a symbolic show of my frustration I’m joining in the March to Montgomery on 3/20 at 10:00 AM to protest the pay raise. I’m burning 8 hours of vacation, driving all the way from Huntsville, and bringing my whole family (wife and three toddler/infant children). It’s going to be an incredibly long and costly day for me, but I’m fed up. I can’t sit idly by and watch you guys do this to Alabamians. You can feel free to ignore us on Tuesday and vote to override Riley’s veto, but be damn sure that if I’m willing to make the sacrifice that I’m making to express my displeasure there are lots of other who feel the same.
Vote appropriately.
Comment by Brian — March 18, 2007 @ 3:04 pm
“Riley told them he did not agree with a pay raise and would veto the measure, Emerson said.
“We just went through an election,” Emerson said. “Nobody ran on the idea of increasing legislators’ pay. To come right out of the box and indicate this is the top priority is totally wrong. We need to do a lot of other things.”
FYI, Riley has been on record as opposed to the raise from the beginning.
Comment by Susan — March 18, 2007 @ 5:15 pm
Good lord. Why don’t we just go ahead and eliminate pay for legislators all together? And, while we’re at it, let’s ban teachers and college employees from serving in the legislature. But wait, why stop there, no more lawyers in the legislature - they might vote on tort reform laws. No more insurance salesman, no businessmen, no funeral directors, no law enforcement officials, no firefighters, no bankers, no stockbrokers - all of whom might vote for legislation that may benefit themselves in some way. Then, and only then, will the general populus be happy. When we are left with nothing but retired millionaires as public officials, then maybe people will finally realize that they got what they deserved.
Comment by Debra — March 18, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
Rep. Hinshaw,
Be thankful you’re a just a double dipper and not a double talker like Billion Dollar Bob.
Comment by QEK — March 18, 2007 @ 6:18 pm
Ad hominem comments may be deleted.
“Ad hominem” is defined here as “attacking an opponent’s character rather than answering his argument.”
Comment by Danny — March 19, 2007 @ 6:50 am
Also — Rep. Hinshaw, if the Bush administration is such a disaster, then why have they successfully prevented any further terrorist attacks on our soil since 9/11? If Gore had been elected, as you wanted — he’d have been less hawkish, and we would likely have more terrorist attacks. So do you agree Bush has been a pretty damn good job where it mattered?
Comment by Mike — March 21, 2007 @ 3:37 am
Mike, they’re spraying elephant spray and taking credit for the lack of elephants. Clinton apparently “prevented” further attacks after the WTC was hit the first time, but the U.S. was hit after Bush took office. Does that mean that Bush allowed 9/11 to happen? Of course not! Truth is, even before Dubya took office, you were more likely to die from being hit by lightning or from suicide than from a terrorist attack on U.S. soil. The whole, “We haven’t been attacked again,” argument is moot. Attempts to attack have not increased, either. Rather, the reporting of attempts by the U.S. government to the press has merely increased to make it appear that a better job is being done. My father likes to tell the story of how, when he was a patrol cop, he stopped the wife of a diplomat who was carrying a ton of weapons and other goodies in her car trunk. They were able to comfiscate the weapons, but they had to let her go, since she had diplomatic immunity. Not a word was ever heard on the news about the incident. Why? Because they wanted Americans to feel safe. One would argue that the increased reporting of similar incidents would be because they want Americans to feel less safe.
Comment by Alabama Moderate — March 21, 2007 @ 10:43 am
Anybody know what Mike was responding to when he said, “Rep. Hinshaw, if the Bush administration is such a disaster…” two comments back? I can’t figure out what point he is arguing against.
Comment by Danny — March 21, 2007 @ 11:26 am
[…] Over in our Posts from the Legislature, Rep. Randy Hinshaw writes about the recent vote to increase legislators’ pay… and more. […]
Pingback by On Last Week’s Vote to Increase Pay » Doc’s Political Parlor — April 26, 2007 @ 11:11 am
[…] However, Rep. Randy Hinshaw (D - Meridianville) reported here in the Parlor that every legislator and the Governor knew ahead of time the amount proposed for a pay raise and that a voice vote was coming. “Everyone knew it was coming. Very few seem to want to admit it.” […]
Pingback by Top 10 Most Memorable Moments of Session (Part Four) » Doc’s Political Parlor — December 6, 2007 @ 2:43 pm