This why ordinary citizens have to read the fine print and hold politicians accountable

Right now, the current brouhaha about Congress (you know those critters – lead by Pelosi and Reid – that have a favorability 1/2 that of President Bush) is their automatic raise that is just about ready to take hold.

Great job if you can get it – this year, $4,100 as an "automatic" raise to an annual salary of $169,300 / year – keeping themselves in the top 5% of all incomes – on your dime!  Yup, not only are our national leaders, in what seems to be the worst economic crisis since President Carter, getting a raise, they’ve set it up such that they no longer even have to vote FOR it.  Instead, they have to vote AGAINST it. 

Nice….and we’ve let them get away with it.

Here in NH, contact your (Democrat) Congressmen (Hodes’s DC office at (202) 225-5206 , Shea-Porter’s at (202) 225-5456) and see if they are going to do the Right Thing and vote against it

And it’s not just at the national level that we citizens have to be more hawkish and on the search for politicians setting up deals for themselves:

A couple of weeks ago, we spoke at the Council of State Governments annual meeting. At one point, we idly commented that we couldn’t imagine anyone continuing in the state legislature in order to build up a pension. After our talk, Texas state Senator Jeff Wentworth gently explained that while this may be true in other places, it ignored the facts of life in the Lone Star State.

His explanation took our breath away.

It turns out that, like most government workers, Texas legislators contribute a percentage of their annual salary to their pension. But while their salaries are a meager $7,200 a year, the salary that’s used in calculating their pensions is that of a state district court judge: $125,000. As with most public pensions, you have to stay on the job a number of years to qualify — eight years to retire at age 60 or 12 years to retire at age 50. The longer you stay, the bigger the benefit. One article, published a few years ago in the Oklahoma City Journal Record, noted that one Texas legislator who never made more than $7,200 annually as a legislator retired after 39 years of service with an annual pension of $92,704. Not bad for a session that lasts 140 days every other year.

Remember, it is the politicos that set up the rules….and if we don’t watch them and put our flashlights into the dark corners, more of this happens. 

(H/T: Instapundit via Governing)