Legislators’ Pay

Regarding Assembly Speaker Willie Brown saying state legislators should be paid the same as judges (May 10):

Never thought I’d see the day when I could ever partially agree with Willie Brown on anything, but lo and behold, I certainly agree that state legislators should get the same pay as our judges ($95,214). Now, how do we go about getting those overpaid judges’ salaries reduced?

PAUL F. NEIFERT

Ontario

In response to “Citizens Panel Grants Legislators a 37% Raise,” May 7:

I was relieved to learn that our state’s legislators will be getting a small raise this year. I know, a 37% increase (from $52,500 to $72,000) isn’t very much nowadays, but hey, people have to make sacrifices. So what if it costs the state another $2.5 million. What’s another million or two out of a $5-billion shortfall? We can probably make it up by cutting other useless services like police, firefighters and education (no one really needs math, anyway).

I’m glad the California Citizens Compensation Commission felt that we need to attract “high-quality” people to public office using competitive salaries, since the desire to serve the public is usually not why high-quality people such as teachers, firefighters and police get into these fields. There’s no way a quality person would want to serve the public for less than $52,000 a year.

Of course, legislators are worth the money, especially with all the extra stress that goes along with going to awards banquets and sporting events. And with term limits, these elected officials need to be able to make their money now since they will probably not be able to find work once they leave office. As a teacher, I guess I’ve got it made since I can work for 25 years at one job. Too bad I’m only in it for the money.

DARYL M. FUKUDA

Irvine