The magazine of the North Carolina Center for Voter Education • Saturday May 19, 2012

Could You Afford to Be a Lawmaker?

By Damon Circosta
Published: Dec. 8, 2011

RALEIGH - In these tough economic times finding suitable employment can be a challenge. Really just about any job right now is a good job. But assume for a second you saw the following job advertisement. What would you think?

“HELP WANTED:  Seeking dedicated professional. Job is located sometimes in Raleigh, sometimes in a district near your house. Job seekers must be willing to become an expert on many subjects without any formal training. Hours are long and often unpredictable. Your colleagues will be frequently combative and many of them would prefer you not be employed with this organization. You will be subjected to one performance review every two years. Either you pass it or you will be immediately terminated.

“Ideal candidates will enjoy long evening meetings and being away from their family. Must have a knack for asking perfect strangers for money and have very thick skin as your name will often be in the newspaper. The job is advertised as part-time although it will consume most of your waking hours. Unless you can find an extremely tolerant second employer who is willing to let you be absent for lengthy, unpredictable stretches, you will most likely not be able to find a compatible second job. Salary is $14,000 a year.”

Again, in this economy almost any job is a good one. But even as we struggle through the tightest labor market since the Great Depression, most employers realize that an ad like the one above won’t attract many qualified applicants. Yet, if there was a “help wanted” ad to be a member of our state legislature this one is pretty accurate.

No one should get rich serving as an elected official. Still, if we want to attract talented individuals with a diverse set of experiences, we need to rethink the employment terms for our elected officials. Everyone wants a “citizens legislature” where people from all walks of life can share their talent and expertise to create a better government. But you don’t get a citizens legislature by making the job unattainable for the majority of citizens.

First, we have to revisit how we compensate our elected officials. The reason pay is so low is that no legislator wants to be responsible for giving themselves a raise. They shouldn’t be in charge of that anyway. Other states put a citizen’s commission in charge. They set the pay rate based on evidence, not on politics.

Next, we have to think about changing when and how sessions are convened. In 2011 the General Assembly has met in nine out of 12 months. In the three months there were no legislative sessions there were plenty of committee meetings and task forces. It’s fine to have our lawmakers come to Raleigh all year round, but let’s not pretend that they are “part-time” public servants.

Also, let’s rethink the way we elect our representatives. Right now many of them come from gerrymandered districts, where they only have to appeal to a narrow slice of the electorate to stay in power. That same citizen’s commission set up to decide legislative salaries could also draw some fair, competitive district maps.

Call it a citizen’s commission on elected service. The commission could decide how much to pay our public servants, when they will be in town and what the district maps will look like.

With the current “help wanted” ad we get good public servants almost by accident. Let’s focus on creating a job description that is worthy of the important work we are asking our elected officials to do.