It amazes me that a former legislator would write and criticize the former Legislature for doing something that she wouldn’t address herself while she was in the Legislature or criticize the DFL incumbent who changed the law to begin with.

The vote on SF 174 that Rep. Peggy Bennett voted for was the compromise reached by the House, Senate and the governor. Was Ms. Brown attempting to criticize Bennett for something with the vote while at the same time arguing for the proposal? Seems counter intuitive to me, or was it just to get her name in the paper on an issue she did nothing about during her term of office?

But let’s take the issue Ms. Brown raised that Minnesota commissioners are somehow underpaid or owed increases. In Minnesota we have a population of approximately 5.5 million people that puts us at 21st in the nation. So how does Minnesota compare with Wisconsin, the closest state with a population ranking 20th?

Examining data from The Council of State Governments, “The Book of the States 2014,”  you will find that Minnesota’s commissioner salaries are only a couple thousand dollars difference than most commissioners’ salaries in Wisconsin, not the huge increases proposed by the governor. For instance, our commissioner of agriculture in Minnesota earns  $119K versus Wisconsin’s $121K, education commissioner in Minnesota $119K versus Wisconsin $121K, health commissioner in Minnesota, $119K, versus Wisconsin, $124K, public safety commissioner in Minnesota $117K versus Wisonsin, $107K. Ms. Brown argues that state department heads have not gotten a pay increase in 12 years. Well, that might be true, but none of the heads of the current departments were heads of the agencies they are at 12 years ago either. They all are appointed and knew full well what salary they were receiving when they applied to head those departments.

Minnesota is hardly at the bottom when it comes to Legislature salary either. Remember, the Legislature is a part-time legislature. The per capita money income in Minnesota according to the Census Bureau in 2013 was $30,913, so a part-time salary of $31,140 for a legislator, in my opinion, is more than sufficient. We do not need a full-time, expensive Legislature like California and New York, who have too much time to think up ways to tax and spend and regulate the lives of their constituents, taxpayers and businesses in those states.

Keep in mind, Ms. Brown, it was the Legislature when DFL Rep. Savick was in office who voted yes four times in 2013 on SF1589 that gave the governor the ability to give commissioners raises from 19 to 58 percent.

 

David Anderson

Lonsdale