“Wanted” ~ Principled Politicians!

What was that I said about principled politicians?  Anyone else out there who thinks that this type of behind the scenes activity isn’t going on all the time needs to have their head examined.  If there were term limits on all political offices, this would not become an issue.  “Full-time” political office is what “We the People” do not want!  The people need average citizen’s to serve in public office and use their experience from within the marketplace to keep a common sense level of knowledge in place, as it was intended and known by those who’d already lived under the tyranny of life-time politicians and monarchies.

“Kremen, Crawford, Mann and any others who may have taken part in this should be ashamed to be seen in public office.”

Great catch by whomever ousted this scam!

Yours In Truth    Shelly

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Key backer of Whatcom County salary commission admits lying about reason behind it

JARED PABEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

When Bellingham businessman Jack Hovenier first proposed Whatcom County should create a salary commission, he publicly said the goal was to establish a more transparent system for setting elected officials' pay.

But according to a voicemail transcript obtained by The Bellingham Herald from Whatcom County, he told County Executive Pete Kremen the real goal was to change county law so the council members could get raises.

When asked about the voicemail this week, Hovenier lied and said he hadn't called Kremen.

• ABOUT THE COMMISSION

  State law governs how the salary commission would work. It would require the following:

  • Six of the 10 members would be chosen at random from the pool of registered voters. The remaining four would be proposed by the executive and approved by the council. The four would be drawn from the sectors of business, personnel management, law and organized labor. Commission members would serve two-year terms.

  • The body would meet once every two years and create a salary schedule for elected officials. They would submit a schedule by May 1, and it would go into effect the following January.

  • Raises could go into effect when the schedule is approved, but pay cuts wouldn't take effect until after the next election for that seat.

  • The salary schedule would be subject to the citizen referendum process. Signature gatherers would have 30 days after the salary schedule is submitted to gather enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot.

  • The commission wouldn't be paid, but it could be reimbursed for travel expenses. Members could only be removed from the commission because of "incapacity, incompetence, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, or for a disqualifying change of residence," according to state law.

Nearly 120,000 voters in November will be asked whether they want to change the county charter to direct the creation of a 10-person commission. The commission would set pay for the following county officials: executive, auditor, assessor, treasurer, sheriff, prosecuting attorney and council members.

Currently, the seven-member County Council sets pay for all of them.

The charter currently limits council members' pay to up to 15 percent of what the executive gets paid. The council members make about $20,000 a year, the lowest of all county elected officials, and the executive makes the highest at $147,000 a year. The ballot measure would remove the 15 percent limit, so the independent commission could boost salaries.

Click here to read full article here.

LiveJournal Tags: Whatcom County,Executive,Council,Politics,Kremen,Crawfor,Mann,Hovenier,Salary Commission