Legislator salaries

My post on per diems generated some comments, so I would like to share a few more thoughts on legislative pay. In my mind, per diems and base salaries are separate. There is no question that legislators are underpaid when it comes to base salaries, and I would have no problem with seeing them increased. At the same time, I want per diems to go down.

Right now, legislator salaries are a bit like pro sports contracts with incentives. In the case of legislators, though, the goal they have to reach to get the extra money is basically to show up. Pretty silly if you ask me. Better to just raise the base salaries and cut per diems so the public knows what legislators are making without having to delve into per diem payout records.