off piste
June 4th, 2007, 11:24 AM
So many names. So many "D's" next to 'em:
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=1004687&format=text
Pols pump up our taxes: Get paid for drive to work
By Dave Wedge (//dwedge@bostonherald.com/)
Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Monday, June 4, 2007 - Updated: 02:18 AM EST
As gas prices soar, taking a toll on many Bay State families, taxpayers have shelled out nearly $200,000 to pay Beacon Hill lawmakers to drive themselves to work, a Herald review has found.
With prices at the pump topping $3 statewide, 68 members of the House and 14 senators have already received more than $1,000 in travel pay this year, with some hauling in nearly $7,000.
The 68 House members who have put in for the daily travel reimbursements have scored an average $1,524 so far this year, while the 20 members of the Senate have fetched an average $1,616.
Western Massachusetts lawmakers top the list, with some making $90 a day to drive to the Golden Dome. The taxpayer-funded payments are based on mileage and are not adjusted to rising and falling gas prices.
The top earner was Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams), who has been paid $6,930 for commuting 77 days at $90 per day. Other top earners include:
Rep. Denis Guyer (D-Dalton) - $6,396;
Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) - $4,860;
Sen. Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield) - $4,320;
Rep. Sarah K. Peake (D-Provincetown) - $3,922
But it’s not only faraway lawmakers cashing in. Many Hub legislators have made extra dough by putting in for hundreds in daily $10 travel payments, including Rep. Martin Walsh (D-Dorchester), Rep. Kevin Honan (D-Allston), Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) and former Rep. Brian Wallace (D-South Boston), among others.
The lawmakers are collecting the per diem pay as gas prices remain a sore spot for commuters and as the Legislature considers a 9-cent gas tax that would further hit motorists in the wallet. The proposed hike was floated to help reduce toll increases.
Barbara Anderson, who heads the taxpayer watchdog group Citizens for Limited Taxation, said per diem payments are a “silly,” outdated concept created when the Legislature was part-time.
“I’d rather it be like New Hampshire, where they get paid (a yearly stipend) plus mileage,” she said. “But in Massachusetts they get everything.”
She added that the payments are even more questionable considering modern technology would allow lawmakers to work from home more often.
“The real story is there a need for them to drive to Boston?” Anderson said.
One lawmaker who didn’t want his name used said some lawmakers show up at the State House briefly and then go work at local law firms and are still able to collect a per diem.
Per diem travel pay for state employees became an issue earlier this year when the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority cut off a program that resulted in troopers without take-home cruisers being paid $40 a day to drive to work. The taxpayer-funded perk ended up costing $1.4 million a year, with some troopers making an extra $9,000 annually.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=1004687&format=text
Pols pump up our taxes: Get paid for drive to work
By Dave Wedge (//dwedge@bostonherald.com/)
Boston Herald Chief Enterprise Reporter
Monday, June 4, 2007 - Updated: 02:18 AM EST
As gas prices soar, taking a toll on many Bay State families, taxpayers have shelled out nearly $200,000 to pay Beacon Hill lawmakers to drive themselves to work, a Herald review has found.
With prices at the pump topping $3 statewide, 68 members of the House and 14 senators have already received more than $1,000 in travel pay this year, with some hauling in nearly $7,000.
The 68 House members who have put in for the daily travel reimbursements have scored an average $1,524 so far this year, while the 20 members of the Senate have fetched an average $1,616.
Western Massachusetts lawmakers top the list, with some making $90 a day to drive to the Golden Dome. The taxpayer-funded payments are based on mileage and are not adjusted to rising and falling gas prices.
The top earner was Rep. Daniel Bosley (D-North Adams), who has been paid $6,930 for commuting 77 days at $90 per day. Other top earners include:
Rep. Denis Guyer (D-Dalton) - $6,396;
Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox) - $4,860;
Sen. Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield) - $4,320;
Rep. Sarah K. Peake (D-Provincetown) - $3,922
But it’s not only faraway lawmakers cashing in. Many Hub legislators have made extra dough by putting in for hundreds in daily $10 travel payments, including Rep. Martin Walsh (D-Dorchester), Rep. Kevin Honan (D-Allston), Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) and former Rep. Brian Wallace (D-South Boston), among others.
The lawmakers are collecting the per diem pay as gas prices remain a sore spot for commuters and as the Legislature considers a 9-cent gas tax that would further hit motorists in the wallet. The proposed hike was floated to help reduce toll increases.
Barbara Anderson, who heads the taxpayer watchdog group Citizens for Limited Taxation, said per diem payments are a “silly,” outdated concept created when the Legislature was part-time.
“I’d rather it be like New Hampshire, where they get paid (a yearly stipend) plus mileage,” she said. “But in Massachusetts they get everything.”
She added that the payments are even more questionable considering modern technology would allow lawmakers to work from home more often.
“The real story is there a need for them to drive to Boston?” Anderson said.
One lawmaker who didn’t want his name used said some lawmakers show up at the State House briefly and then go work at local law firms and are still able to collect a per diem.
Per diem travel pay for state employees became an issue earlier this year when the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority cut off a program that resulted in troopers without take-home cruisers being paid $40 a day to drive to work. The taxpayer-funded perk ended up costing $1.4 million a year, with some troopers making an extra $9,000 annually.