I’m occasionally reminded that in my native North Dakota, state legislators haven’t gotten a pay raise since the 1890’s.  They still (the last I checked) make $5 a day, plus a very modest per diem. 

Business gets done.  Bills get paid.  North Dakota’s high school achievement scores (for whatever standardized test scores are worth) are up there with Minnesota’s at the top of the national rankings.

Minnesota’s legislators, on the other hand, on top of a mid-60K 30K annual salary [Corrected – my bad.  I was thinking of the constitutional offices], get $66 a day in expense money.  Not enough, says the DFL-controlled legislature; they want a 45 percent raise.

Craig “Cap’n Fishsticks” Westover has another plan.  He’s reaching out with his heart:

I am initiating an “Adopt a State Senator” campaign. What greater satisfaction could one have than sharing a little more of what you’ve earned with an overworked and underpaid public servant — someone like little Larry.

Little Larry lives in Minneapolis and drives all the way to the state Capitol in St. Paul every day the Legislature is in session. There is nothing worse for a legislator than to be sitting in his car on a congested freeway hungry and thirsty. Imagine pulling into a Starbucks and having to choose between a grande cafe mocha and a ham and Swiss bagel. On a meager $66 per diem there may not be enough money for both. Our state senators face tough choices like that every day.

But you can help our senators with your contribution of just $30 per day, or about $4,000 per legislative session. That’s right! For just the cost of a 50-inch flat-panel plasma HDTV and premium HDTV service, you can ensure they never again have to choose between city tap water and Evian.

And maybe Larry can get a more recent head shot.  The one shown above was apparently taken during his “I Heart the Bay City Rollers” phase.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 4:05 am and is filed under Minnesota Politics. 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.