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Mr. President, do the perks and waste of politicians and government workers offend our values?
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“It does offend our values when executives at big financial firms—firms that are struggling—pay themselves huge bonuses even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat.”
--President Barack Obama, October 22, 2009
The point is well taken. While I am not one for government telling private industry how much they can pay their executives, how can you (as a company) ask for a bailout and then pay out huge bonuses to many of the same people that caused the situation requiring the bailout? Even if they were not the same people who caused the crisis for the company, the bonuses are essentially coming from taxpayer dollars. I do not buy the argument that a company can only retain good people by paying big bonuses. With unemployment at a high, the workforce pool is very qualified these days.
My question for this post, though, is: should not the same standard apply to politicians and government officials? Politicians and government officials “rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat,” as Obama remarked about the big financial firms. Without taxpayer money, many people in government would be out of a job. How about those people being paid for doing a job that is already being done or can be done by fewer people? In these difficult economic times, should not government lead by example?
On the federal level, has there been an examination of how much money Congressmen receive for staff and district offices? What about the taxpayer-funded junkets, where Congressmen take their spouses? What about conferences for government workers that are simply taxpayer-paid vacations?
On the state level, Bruce Elliot on WBAL radio frequently questions why the governor has a private chef. Is that an expense that should be borne by the occupant of the governor’s mansion, rather than the taxpayers? There are numerous officials who have take-home vehicles, and some Cabinet secretaries who have more than one vehicle at their disposal. State and local officials also benefit from going to conferences that are little more than taxpayer-funded vacations.
Maryland General Assembly members also receive perks, such as (1) a free E-Z Pass (exempt from the $1.50 per month tax they enacted), (2) lodging for the ninety (90) days they are in Session, regardless of how far they live from the Statehouse, and (3) a set amount every year for their offices. In a letter I received from Delegate Bill Frank (R-Towson, Dist. 42), he explained while he does not spend all the money allocated to him, many members scramble to spend their allotment of money before the close of the fiscal year on June 30 just so they do not have to return the money to the State.
If politicians and government employees are not willing to give up their perks or cutdown on expenses during these tight economic times, they will not do it when the economy is doing well. It would be nice to hear President Obama take same stand with politicians and government workers that he has taken with the big financial firms.
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Dilip Paliath has a general law practice in Towson. For more information, see www.paliath.com.
