Legislative pay raises shocking, hypocritical

By Guest

Dear Editor:

I am disgusted and speechless by the size and scope of the pay raise Representative Bill Galvin (D-Canton) voted for himself and his fellow legislators. Thus, I will type it out. State legislators recently received a pay raise four weeks ago and came off a five-month vacation prior to their recent vote to line their own pockets.

Many of their constituents must work multiple jobs to make ends meet, sometimes never receiving a substantial raise. Last year, we constituents were informed that we would not be rewarded with a tax-free weekend because the state couldn’t afford to not collect the revenue. From the mouth of Speaker DeLeo: “When you’re talking about the shortfall that we’re in … to add another $26 million to that shortfall just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

So we couldn’t afford it. This seems sensible. Yet then he goes on to vote for a 40 percent raise for himself. It must be so difficult to live on only $102,000 a year. I hope you were able to sense my sarcasm.

This legislation costs the taxpayers $18 million per year, but we couldn’t get one lousy weekend of relief? I was always taught that public service is about people, not money. Representative Galvin did not have you and your hard-earned tax dollars in mind when voting yes, and he expects you to forget this in November 2018.

Joe Paru

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