My Message for Wretched and Starving Idaho Legislators

We Get to Abuse Them for a Change

You see them foraging in trash cans. They are dressed in rags, resembling the ghostly figures from old lithographs of the Irish Potato Famine.  They huddle outside the State Capitol in Boise, panhandling and asking for a meal.  We call them legislators, and we abuse them as a plantation owner abused slaves.  We turn a blind eye to their lowly plight.

And some legislators are playing the role of Simon Legree!  They’re opposed to a legislative pay raise, recommended by a citizens' committee that’s designed to keep the hands of House and Senate members clean.  Because no one campaigns on a promise to raise their pay.  So, they need a backdoor approach to the public trough.  I keep hearing this will only cost half a million to one million dollars.  After all, it’s the state’s money, once it’s confiscated from you!

A million here, a million there…

It's Your Money

What would 500,000 dollars do for you?  You’ll never know, because the growing leviathan on Boise will abscond with it.

I got a raise last year.  Our corporate CEO offered it for merit.  Are there some legislators who earned an upgrade?  Probably.  Some put in some long hours, but when you consider the work done by thousands of men and women carrying heavy packs through Afghan mountain passes for 20 years, that was hard work.  Dairy farmers work seven days a week.  They live on the margins and are usually forgotten after casting their votes.

Enough is Enough, Whiners

Here’s a thought: If you can’t do the work for the agreed-upon price, then get the heck out!

A legislative wannabe, Brian Almon, claims denying a raise is mean.  I’ll remember that on April 15^th, or when I’m shopping for the staples of life.

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