There should probably be some very serious thought given revamping just how citizen legislators are paid.  If you think about it, and it’s pointed out it this article, the folks who are holding these elected offices tend not to be your run of the mill working men and women.  They’re folks who can afford to not be making real money that would support their families while working on legislation in the state capital.  In short – it might be losing the mission of exactly what perspective the citizen legislature should have on issues of the day.   From AZstarnet.com:

After repeatedly failing to sell voters on a 50 percent pay increase for state lawmakers, a special commission is scaling back its request by half.

It wants Arizonans to give their legislators just a $6,000 raise.

Members of the Commission on Salaries for Elective State Officers have voted to put the proposal to pay lawmakers $30,000 a year on the November ballot as Proposition 300. Their action is automatic and requires no further action.

Commission Chairman Sal Rivera said Tuesday that his five-member panel still believes lawmakers should be paid at least $36,000 a year.

But that proposal failed at the ballot box in 2002, in 2004 and again in 2006. Rivera said the decision to scale back the proposal simply acknowledges the political reality of the situation.

Still, he said, it’s better than nothing.

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