Secretary of State Scott Gessler has a point.
Now, he may have been politically tone deaf for making it on the heels of news that the state can’t even afford to cover breakfasts for poor kids, but the salaries of statewide elected officials are too low.
After recently revealing his eyebrow-raising intentions to moonlight on weekends for his old law firm, Gessler told lawmakers last week that Colorado should form a citizens commission to set salaries for elected officials.
It’s not a bad idea.
Granted, it makes no sense to argue about it when the state is scrounging for change in pay phones to meet a $1.1 billion shortfall, but eventually someone is going to have to broach the issue.
Gessler’s job pays $68,500, which he knew when he chose to run for it.Even though he’s proposed working on contract law unconnected to election matters, we wrote in an editorial last week that the arrangement raises serious issues. Chief among them is transparency.
It’s imperative, we wrote, that Gessler reveal who he does work for so the public can judge whether the secretary is putting himself in a position where he has a conflict of interest or even the potential for a conflict. Even so, we’re concerned that he will have financial ties to a law firm whose clients may have a vested interest in decisions made by the secretary of state.
Gessler’s moonlighting plans not only sparked criticism but also renewed the debate over the salaries of statewide officials.
We think the current pay scale discourages people from running for office, especially middle-income breadwinners in their prime earning years. Those often are the folks who have the experience and energy for the long hours public service demands.
The governor of Colorado makes $90,000 — a figure that hasn’t changed since 1999. We pay our governor less than every surrounding state. Nevada, which has half the budget and half the people, pays its CEO $141,000 a year. The governor of Wyoming’s 500,000 denizens makes $105,000, while New Mexico’s governor makes $110,000.
In 2006, as he was leaving office, Gov. Bill Owens wanted the legislature to bump the salaries of statewide officials, just as it did during Gov. Roy Romer’s final year.
Increasing the salaries would make it easier for those who aren’t independently wealthy to run for office, which would presumably increase the pool of attractive candidates. It also would alleviate the need for them to do side work, which can create conflicts. But the Democrats controlling the legislature then weren’t interested in hiking the salaries of politicians just months after asking Coloradans to approve Ref C.
It was hard to argue with that logic. Which is why it might take a citizens panel to recommend the politically unpalatable increases.
However, we think the salaries are low enough that when revenues rebound, lawmakers could raise them with a straight face. When the governor sits down at a Cabinet meeting, he shouldn’t be the lowest-paid person at the table.
