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Jacobs supports pay hike bill

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By Kurt Erickson | Wednesday, May 7, 2008 9:22 PM CDT | () comments

SPRINGFIELD — While Quad-City members of the Illinois House voted Wednesday to reject boosting salaries for state lawmakers by nearly 12 percent, state Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, supports getting paid more money.

“Frankly, if you don’t want politicians selling jobs and you don’t want politicians carrying plastic bags to the Governor’s Mansion full of cash, well then you’ve got to pay them,” Jacobs said.

“I think that we’re underpaid and I look at some other people do a lot less than what I think I do and make a heck of a lot more money,” Jacobs added.

State reps. Mike Boland,

D-East Moline, and Patrick Verschoore, D-Milan, voted to reject the pay hike.

Verschoore said he thinks the Senate president will allow the hikes to go into effect. “Even if you vote for or against it I don’t think Emil Jones is going to hear it over in the Senate,” Verschoore said.

State Rep. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, criticized Jacobs.

“For some, this pay raise isn’t about putting bread and milk on the table, it’s about increasing retirement benefits and has everything to do with greed,” Risinger said.

In its 94-8 vote, the House put the thorny question of legislative pay hikes in the hands of the Illinois Senate, which now must follow suit.

A vote in the Senate could come within two weeks. If the General Assembly’s upper chamber doesn’t vote on the exact same legislation, the election-year raises will automatically take effect.

The proposal’s fate in the Senate is unclear. Jones, who controls what legislation is voted on in the Senate, said earlier that he favors the pay hike.

Currently, lawmakers earn a base salary of $65,353 annually. They earn more for serving on leadership teams or as chairmen of various committees.

If approved, base pay would rise to $72,985.

Jones and House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, would see their salaries go from $91,824 to $102,547. Madigan voted in favor of the pay hike.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich would see his salary rise to $192,773, up from a current level of $170,917.

Beyond state Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Orland Park, few lawmakers spoke in favor of the pay hikes during debate on the House floor.

“I don’t think my constituents think I’m overpaid,” McCarthy said. “I think I work very hard for it.”

Opponents said the state’s budget situation and the inability of lawmakers to find agreement on key state issues makes it the wrong time to take more money from taxpayers.

Kurt Erickson can be contacted at

(217) 789-0865 or kurt.erickson@lee.net.

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