You may recall while I was on family vacation last month, I filmed a video and shared that I would NOT be taking the legislative pay raise that was slid in the budget (by the Senate) mid-term.
I do not and did not support the legislative pay increase.
IF the legislature was going to ever increase their compensation, it must be more transparent about it and it MUST START for the NEXT TERM, not the current term we are serving. The people need to decide if lawmakers that took the extra funds deserve another term before receiving these increased funds.
An $18,000 pay hike is a lot of money for many South Carolina families struggling to make ends meet. This is not a small sum.
Do you agree?
For many years, I returned my legislative salary to the community (mainly through scholarships to our students). That salary has remained at $10,400 since 1990. Prior to that it was $10,000 from 1978 until 1990.
Public service should never be about the money. It should be about serving others. My slogan since my first campaign was always People, Not Politics.
If you have thoughts on whether increasing legislative pay is a good thing or bad thing, please let me know!
They knew what the pay scale was when they run for Office they should accept it and ask for nothing more
Legislators should get no more increase than state employees.
I can not say I am shocked about this back door pay raise issue. This is SOP for elected officials. When I go to vote for a representative I am always of the mind set that I am casting a vote for the lesser of the two evils. This is the way it has been and always will be, at least during my life time.
Thanks Nathan for not accepting the increased pay. Not that there should not be one but from $1000 to $2500 is pretty significant. They should increase teacher pay that much.
Yes I’m proud of you for declining the pay raise in the last State budget. This was slipped into the budget at the last minute with no public discussion. Constituents can’t really tell who voted for or against this, because it was part of a huge budget bill.