Rooster in Review: Won't somebody think of the Legislators?
State Legislators look to pad their pockets on their way out the door before Christmas.
The other day at the Statehouse, I heard a prominent legislative aide ask a colleague if he had time to discuss “the pay raise bill.” I didn’t think much about it on my way out the door, and that was a mistake.
From the intrepid Laura Bischoff of dispatch.com:
State Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Twp., said legislators are debating a pay raise for themselves as well as all elected officials across the state − from township trustee to governor.
Back in 2018, in the closing days of the legislative session, Seitz spearheaded a pay hike bill for elected officials that gave them 4% and 3% increases in the first two years and 1.75% in each year through 2028. The pay increase was the first in a decade for elected officials.
Then Gov. John Kasich vetoed the bill, prompting lawmakers to return to Columbus to override the veto. Seitz called Kasich "Grinch-like" at the time.
Now, Seitz said, inflation has been outstripping those increases and there is a good case for putting larger pay hikes into place for the next 10 years.
This is a good example of how Seitz commands respect from his colleagues, as he’s willing to act as the lightning rod for criticism while pushing these raises to the press.
And Hell, this time he’s doing it even though he won’t be around to collect on them.
State Legislators in Ohio make $71,099 a year for a part-time job in a state with a median income of roughly $60,000.
I don’t mind the salary. I think it should be at a point where a legislator can only work that job and have a comfortable living. Otherwise it would be a job that only the rich could take, and that’s already a sizable problem within the Legislature.
But it’s galling that this move is coming during Lame Duck Session of the 135th General Assembly, which was the most unproductive from a legislative standpoint in 70 years.
And it’s a horrible look for the Legislature that is never focused on improving material conditions of the poor, working or otherwise, in any meaningful manner.
But they will get their little raises and skate off to the holidays because they know the little collective outrage the public can muster will dissipate before the spring.
Well, at least this time, I can ask a few of them next week why, exactly, they deserve these cost-of-living raises ahead of what they claim will be unprecedented economic gains under the incoming President Trump.
We have that going for us, at least, which is nice.
This week in Ohio Man
I have a rule when it comes to fast food. I don’t look in the bag when the workers hand me my order. I don’t go back and raise Hell if, for example, they gave me a single cheeseburger instead of double cheeseburger.
I take my loss and keep on moving with my life since I’m thankful anyone is willing or able to work in those horrible conditions to feed me my slop in the first place.
Other people, however, have a different mentality.
From Kyle Beachy of nbc4i.com:
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – An Ohio man is struggling to get back to normalcy after he says he was punched repeatedly by several McDonald’s employees during a dispute over his Quarter Pounder in October.
Karrigan Norwood was reportedly assaulted sometime after midnight on Oct. 17 at the McDonald’s on East 17th Street in Columbus.
He recently sat down with Nexstar’s WCMH to talk about the experience, which he described as a “nightmare.”
Norwood said he had visited the McDonald’s for a late-night meal but returned to the restaurant when he realized his order, a Double Quarter Pounder with Bacon, was only a single. After getting back to the drive-thru window, however, he said he was met with hostility, so he asked for the manager.
I assume being assaulted by an entire McDonald’s crew will lead to a substantial payout for Mr. Norwood. But if I got my ass handed to me like that over a missing slab of chemical meat in my sandwich, I don’t think I’d be going to the press to make sure everybody in town knew about it.
This week in The Rooster
This week included five dispatches, a trend that will continue next week as we approach the penultimate week of the Lame Duck Session.
Weak men create hard times. Football coach Ryan Day is the least of Ohio State’s current problems.
The Rooster’s 2024 Sloopys ballot. Most arrogant lawmaker. Nicest lawmaker. Biggest self-promoter. Here is how The Rooster voted in the annual
Break the chains. Contrary to the belie of the Senate’s media hobgoblins, I don’t need credentials to be effective at my job.
The full-court press. Ohio police and firefighters put on a show of force on Capitol Square and House Democrats and Republicans passed an unfunded mandate for first-responers’ pensions that would cripple municipalities’ finance.s
Je Suis Scabby the Rat. We reached the endgame of appointing a bunch of Republicans to the Regional Airport Authority Board. LifeWise is bragging about mandated released time for religious instruction being done and dusted. And a Capitol Square holiday party of greedy, cult-like freaks shows how fragile many of these people are.
Enjoy your weekend, folks! We’ll do it again five times next week as we head towards Christmas.
THOSE WMDs. How federal policy under Ronald Reagan created the modern food desert… Revenge, fire and destruction: A year of Israeli soldiers’ videos from Gaza… How to clean a washing machine… What I saw at the Gisèle Picot rape trial… The animal cruelty syndrome.