In 1995,
Gordon Campbell seemed to have his finger on the public's
pulse when he said: "They don't want elected officials
to vote one thing for themselves, while they're asking the
general public to do something else. The only way for us
to do that is for us to eliminate pension benefits for MLAs."
As a result of Bill 37, which Campbell is using to give
retroactive pension benefits to himself, 35 other Liberal
MLAs, and 5 New Democrats, if he retires after one more
term, his pension will be almost $10,000 per month, $117,604
per year.
Premier
Campbell was born on January 12, 1948. He'll be 61 at the
time of the next election, May 12, 2009; if he chooses to
retire then, rather than seek re-election, he will be eligible
for an annual pension of $76,909; if, as appears likely,
he stays on until the following election, May 14, 2013,
his annual pension will likely increase to $117,604, because
he would be age 65, have four more years of service and
his salary would have risen due to indexing. That's not
bad for a guy who once said: "In order for us to change
the public image of MLAs as self-serving, it's going to
require MLAs to stop being self-serving. Being an MLA should
be a public service, not a career. We cannot ask others
to tighten their belts if we're not willing to tighten our
own."
Gordon
Campbell gets more money, both in salary and pension, than
any other MLA as a result of implementing the recommendations
he selected from the commission he hand-picked; he chose
to ignore some or to put them in the hands of the government
dominated Legislative Assembly Management Committee. Campbell's
Commission recommended that: "information concerning
MLA compensation, including the Members' Handbook, be accessible
via the Legislative Assembly website" and "that
the Legislative Assembly Management Committee enhance communication
of its decisions by posting the minutes of its meetings
on the Assembly website." You won't find those recommendations
in Bill 37, although you will find provision to post information
to a Legislative Assembly website on MLAs who don't take
Campbell's offer.
Unfortunately,
the Members' Conflict of Interest Act allows MLAs to set
their "remuneration and benefits" without being
in a conflict. Compare that to Washington
State where a panel of 16 citizens sets the salary for
the governor and 478 other elected state officials. Gordon
Campbell had a choice, and he chose to appoint an elite
panel that delivered a windfall for him. He's betting BC
voters will forget, forgive or accept that decision before
the next election, as they did his time in a Hawaiian jail.
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