Mass. House approves politicians’ pay raise with no public debate

  Well after normal business hours and with no public debate, the Massachusetts House of Representatives furtively rammed through a 25% pay increase for Massachusetts Governor’s Councillors during night budget deliberations. Amendment #701, which was filed by Watertown State Representative John Lawn, proposed raising the pay for the part-time Governor’s Councillors to $45,025 per year, and it was quietly inserted into Consolidated Amendment E and approved at 8:47 p.m. The Governor’s Councillor position is part-time and meets once a week to approve warrants for the state treasury, pardons and commutations and gubernatorial appointments.

  “The Massachusetts legislature is one of the most-opaque institutions in our country. They are not subject to our state’s [Open Meeting] laws, nor are they subject to Freedom of Information requests. There’s almost no way the public would have any way of knowing the process and reasoning that actually went into this decision,” stated Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Spokesperson/Board Member Paul D. Craney.

  “The budgeting process at the State House is completely broken. This is just one example of how taxpayer dollars get thrown around with no account. There’s absolutely no excuse why the amendment sponsor or a member of the House leadership team couldn’t have made their case as to why they feel these pay increases are necessary. Why even bother having a House Chamber if they’re going to conduct all of their debates in rooms that the press and public are barred from entering,” noted Craney.