Maine’s governor earns an annual salary of $70,000, which doesn’t seem like all that much considering what we expect from the poor guy.
Of course, the governor also gets free health care, free housing, free food, free servants and a chauffeured ride with gas and maintenance paid for by us. And his retirement benefits can kick in after just one day in office and pay him or his surviving spouse $26,000 a year for life.
Still, the state’s chief executive is the lowest paid governor in the nation. He makes less than Maine’s secretary of state ($78,000), attorney general ($104,000) or state treasurer ($71,000). All those officials get regular raises, in line with what’s paid to other state employees. But by law, the guv is stuck at 70 grand.
“Compared to the tremendous amount of work the governor performs every single day, all year long – nights and weekends included – the governor’s pay is wildly out of sync with the much better pay and much lower workload of the constitutional officers,” a spokesman for Republican Gov. Paul LePage told the Bangor Daily News last year.
Nevertheless, bills to increase the governor’s salary have gone nowhere.
The last time our guy in the Blaine House got a raise was 1987, when GOP Gov. John McKernan took office, and the salary was doubled from $35,000. The only reason the Legislature approved that measure was because McKernan’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Brennan, had so much trouble making ends meet that he had to take a part-time job as a ball boy for the New England Patriots. It didn’t pay much, but the tips from the quarterback were terrific.
It’s unseemly for the leader of our state to even have to consider moonlighting. Finagling with pressure gauges or greeting shoppers at Walmart isn’t gubernatorial behavior. That’s how our legislators keep the wolf from the door.
Members of the state House and Senate are paid about $13,000 for the first year of their terms, when the Legislature is in session for six months. In the second year, when the session runs about three months, they get around nine grand. That pitiful amount can be supplemented by reimbursements for mileage, housing and meals for each day legislators are in Augusta, even if there’s no session. Getting appointed to a few commissions or study groups can effectively double the compensation received by a favored few members.
That still doesn’t put them much ahead of fast-food workers and convenience store clerks.
Given the miserly wages we pay our public servants, you might suppose they’d empathize with the plight of those minimum-wage slaves. Scraping together a living by working two or three jobs at $7.50 an hour shouldn’t be an alien concept to our impoverished elected officials.
Except that a disproportionate percentage of Maine’s legislators are retired and receive pensions. Another big chunk are educators, whose regular jobs and benefits are guaranteed by law while they serve. And there are lots of lawyers, most of whom never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.
For this crowd, the experience of working multiple crummy jobs to cover the costs of rent, groceries and taxes is not only not part of their lifestyles, it’s also not part of the planet they live on. They may have heard somewhere that about 20,000 Mainers earn the minimum wage (or less) each year, but they can’t quite grasp the concept.
As a result, the chance of a minimum wage increase passing the Legislature anytime soon is about the same as the Patriots winning a game without cheating.
Faced with that political reality, Portland, South Portland and Bangor are considering enacting local ordinances to raise the basic wage. There also may be a referendum in Portland to create an even higher “living wage.” If these efforts gain traction, the movement might spread to other towns. There’s a possibility that in the next couple of years a majority of the state’s workers could receive fatter paychecks.
That prospect has prompted LePage and other opponents of an increased minimum to action. The underpaid and overworked governor, who first claimed incorrectly that such local laws are unconstitutional, has now proposed legislation that would ban municipalities from going it alone on a higher wage.
The guv probably figures that if he can get by for almost three decades without a raise, poor people ought to do the same. And he’d be right – if they had free housing, free food and a chauffeur.
If I gave you a rise (instead of a raise), email me at aldiamon@herniahill.net.
pay him the state minimum wage , and give him food stamps and Maine care. it more then this worthless bonehead is worth.
Apparently the Bulldog shares your views.
I’m not saying anything one way or another about our current governor or representitives.
The reality is, that by keeping the salaries as low as they are, we are potentially short changing ourselves. By doing so, we are limiting ourselves in attracting talented leaders who can make a lot more money in the private sector and could do a lot of good for our state. That rate of pay is not competitive to attract the type of leaders we would love to have in the job. Like any other job search, you can only hire, or vote for the candidates who are interested. Give that some thought!
That being said, the good news is that those who do step forward are passionate about the job.
Perhaps he could give us all make believe jobs like the one he created for his daughter with free housing,health care and a pension to the tune of $50,000 per year. That would certainly improve our economy.
People don’t run for the money. They run for the power. If the pay was less, we would still be stuck with him.
Good piece. Puts the issue of pay for public officials and minimum wage in perspective. The single most obnoxious part was the arrogant quote from “a spokesman for Republican Gov. Paul LePage.”
If someone is paying you minimum wage,that means they would pay you even less if they could.
So the argument then becomes what- that by doling out pay raises and entitlements we somehow transform our government and citizenry from mediocrity and incompetence to a higher socioeconomic strata and civic responsibility and enlightenment?
Nationally, about six percent of workers are earning minimum wage.
Keep doing what you’re doing…
“As a result, the chance of a minimum wage increase passing the Legislature anytime soon is about the same as the Patriots winning a game without cheating.”
OK, you just blew any credibility you had with me. You’re obviously a Giants or Jets fan and couldn’t resist the swipe at a team everyone in the media world loves to hate.
Not reading any of your drivel anymore.
The pay is what the job is worth, not what the person performing the job thinks he’s worth. If swamping toilets at McDonald’s is worth $10 and hour, forcing it to $15 will teach a lot of folks what the real minimum wage is: zero.
The minimum wage discussion has nothing to do with the 6% actually earning it. It is entirely about pandering to unions whose contracts peg workers’ wages at multiples of MW. It sure is easier than negotiating.
Back to ME governors. Consider the last four. LePage, King and McKernan didn’t need that $70K to make ends meet. I don’t know about Baldacci – maybe he did need it, since he’s failed at everything else he’s tried since. A salary commensurate with others around the country might attract politicians who aren’t independently wealthy, just power hungry. You can judge for yourselves if that’s an improvement.
I would like to know how that 6% figure for minimum wage workers was calculated.
It doesn’t seem right to me. Unless, it was full time, year round workers who are paid that. Most of the lowest paid workers don’t get full time and many are not year-round.
Also, how many workers get paid just above that? I remember when I joined the work force many years ago, I might get a nickel more than minimum – if I was a good worker and didn’t miss too much work. But, what I was paid was definitively based on the minimum.
I recently went on a trip, took in several states in the Mid-South Atlantic part of the country as well as most of the rest of New England. I saw a lot of new construction. A lot of people working. Many new cars. Businesses with nice, clean fronts and signs that looked fresh- not peeling paint and rust and faded yellowed plastic. People with nice clean clothes that looked new. Smiling faces.
“It doesn’t seem right to me. Unless, it was full time, year round workers who are paid that. Most of the lowest paid workers don’t get full time and many are not year-round.”
You have your answer, Snowman.
Most minimum wage jobs are part time, temporary positions- ergo, jobs with a high turnover rate. It used to be called upward mobility as people would gain experience and education and make themselves more employable and seek better opportunities. A growing competitive economy would foster that but that would be a pipe dream up here. Most of rural America is collapsing (along with the middle class).
As far as other areas of the country? The South shall rise again, pilgrim.
We are banking on it…
So true Al! You get right to the quick of it…but hey give the Patriots a break.
I agree, Steve, the minimum wage, food stamps and MaineCare are more than the useless bonehead is worth — but before we give ’em to him, make him grovel and pee in a cup, and then arrest him for welfare fraud if he buys himself a box of ding dongs with his food stamp card.
You don’t have to be a Giants fan to recognize a cheater. Even intelligent Patriots fans know it. Kinda reminds me of Nixon. He didn’t have to cheat to win, but he just couldn’t help himself. It’s a character flaw.
May 27, 2015 • 3:45 pm
.
“I would like to know how that 6% figure for minimum wage workers was calculated. ”
I believe Carl Rove said it on Fox News. …or was Ed Schultz on MSNBC?
Either way, you know it has to be true…
“Adults. Over half of women earning the minimum wage are 25 or older, and most do not have a spouse’s income to rely on.”
http://www.nwlc.org/resource/fair-pay-women-requires-fair-minimum-wage
Really folks? I cannot believe that everyone is only thinking of cheating football players. You all think it’s bad that someone should be required to “pee in a cup” for their food stamps and housing that comes out of my paycheck? What the hell is wrong with you? I have to take those tests in order to keep my job what makes them different for the wages they are getting from my paycheck tell me that will you. And as for not wanting to see food stamp recipients purchase ding dongs with their food stamp, I am in favor for purchasing staples first. Seeing a teen come into a convenient store and purchase soda, candy bars, and ding dongs with a parents ebt card makes me want to shake them and ask what the hell is wrong with you! YOU want them to buy that type of crap you pay for it stop taking out of my tax money. And further more this Governor has done more for the state of Maine and it’s working people than any Gov in a long time. People need to open their eyes and get real.