The Newcastle City Council did the right thing in this era of the Great Recession (or depression) and tight local budgets by lowering their "own" salaries, even though it may be a little on the cynical side if none or only some of the ones who voted for the decrease run for re-election, because then the decrease may not effect them at all.
Sherril Huff, the sitting Director of Elections, is on a pace to collect a million dollars in salary, soon (if she hasn't already exceeded that), for a few year's work. Huff and the overpaid King County Council could learn something from the Newcastle City Council, like exploring the word sacrifice, even if "sacrifice" has cynical quotation marks around it. At least it's a start. When I ran for Director of Elections last year, I proposed that the elected director's salary be reduced by 50%, but of course the reliably corrupt Mainstream Media did not report that or anything else about the Director's election of '11. As a man of the people, if I had been elected, I was prepared to make this sacrifice, because I realize that public officials should be equal amongst the people in all matters, generally speaking, including in regards to general compensation for work done. Luxurious Congressional salaries in D.C. (around 180K annually) should also be reduced significantly.
- by Mark Greene
[revised on 10/12/12]
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