A Little Political Manipulation Tale

By Michael Coulter

I just wonder, Ralph, if all the naïve voters in Arkansas really understood what they were doing when they voted for a constitutional amendment back in 2014 that created this so-called Independent Citizens Commission that has since doled out millions of our tax dollars in generous raises for all the politicians in Little Rock.

The funny thing about all this is that when these raises are approved our politicians seem to be very quiet and when approached by the media about the raises they simply refer questions to those individuals appointed to this commission, which takes the monkey off their back.

You see, prior to 2015 these very same politicians were responsible for giving themselves raises which made them very uncomfortable knowing that their constituents might not be so happy about them giving themselves raises.

So they cleverly proposed this constitutional amendment that created this commission hoping voters wouldn’t realize exactly what was up their sleeves.

Now Ralph, you are smart enough to have figured out what they were doing and it seems to have been highly financially beneficial without them having to take any flap from the hard working citizens flipping hamburgers at minimum wages.

I bring this up after learning just recently this commission gave final approval to 2.5% pay raises for the state’s seven constitutional officers and 135 members of the Legislature. The raises will cost the taxpayers of Arkansas almost $160,000 a year.

The commission gave judges their raises last year and are touting the fact that these raises are simply cost-of-living adjustments. Well, how many hard working Arkansans received cost-of-living adjustments from their employers recently? And, we’re not talking about all the generous raises and bonuses that have been doled out to all the West Memphis employees as well as elected officials.

We’re also being told there is a move to boost every West Memphis worker to a minimum of $14 an hour.

Don’t give me this feeble justification that these politicians are working endless hours representing us and passing laws that are for our own good.

Let’s take a look at our state representatives and senators who will now receive over $42,000 a year for what is considered a “part-time” position. Now, that doesn’t include per diem and other benefits.

I’m told that none of the affected politicians requested pay raises. Why should they when they know they’ll be taken care of every year by their appointed commissioners?

As I pointed out Ralph, the commission voted last year to give 2.5% raises to 194 judges and 28 elected prosecutors, as well as $2,500 pay increases to the seven Supreme Court justices and 12 Court of Appeal judges. The judicial branch raises totaled more than $946,000.

Altogether, the commission approved $1.1 million in raises for elected officials in the three branches of state government.

In 2018 doled out 3% raises totaling about $1.23 million.

Let’s face it Ralph, what this commission is doing is raising some eyebrows. For example, one citizen taxpayer in Baxter County pointed out that senior citizens only received a 1.6% cost-of-living increase this year and asked what makes these politicians better that senior citizens. Good question I think.

Let me point out Ralph, Arkansas’ governor and attorney general earn more than their counterparts in Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma.

In all fairness, I have to also point out that Arkansas’ secretary of state, auditor as well treasurer are paid well below their counterparts in those states which I an certain that will be taken into serious consideration the next time these commissioners come together to consider more raises.

Again Ralph, I just wonder what the people think now about this commission they so willingly voted for back in 2014.