• After testifying in May before the Citizens Compensation Commission, which voted to reduce California legislators’ salaries by 18 percent, Sen. Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) immediately sent a letter to State Controller John Chiang asking that he be paid the new salary effective June 1. “Of all the cuts that are being discussed right now, one part of government remains immune—the Legislature. I have always said that this economic crisis is about shared pain and shared sacrifice,” Maldonado stated following the Citizens Compensation Commission hearing. According to a commission salary survey, California legislators are currently the highest-paid legislators in the nation. As of press time, Chiang had yet to respond to the senator’s letter.
This article appears in Jun 4-11, 2009.
