Florida's Gov. Gets Hammered By The Left, For Doing What They Endorsed In MN

[twyacht]

Ah the hypocrisy,.....What do you think FQ?

http://biggovernment.com/bmattox/2011/03/27/left-attacks-florida-gov-scott-for-supporting-transparency-they-endorsed-in-minnesota/

Left Attacks Florida Gov. Scott for Supporting Transparency They Endorsed in Minnesota
by William Mattox

Under the category of “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott can file some news accounts of his recent unveiling of the transparency web site, www.FloridaHasARighttoKnow.com.  The site includes salary information about many key state employees – including those on the Governor’s staff – as well as records from the Florida Retirement System listing every government pensioner receiving at least $100,000 a year.

While this proactive disclosure of frequently-requested information won the Governor brownie points with some “open government” advocates, the head of the AFL-CIO and at least one major newspaper accused Gov. Scott of selectively releasing information to advance his pension reform agenda. (See: http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/florida-gov-rick-scott-launches-public-records-website/1157906 and http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/19/2124262/pension-battle-overlooks-the-deeper.html).

Critics of Governor Scott considered it foul that he chose to highlight the 542 government pensioners that annually receive more than $100,000 from the taxpayers, rather than releasing the data on all pensioners in the Florida Retirement System.

Yet, many “good government” liberals in Minnesota must wonder what all the fuss in Florida is about.

That’s because Minnesota’s Democratic-controlled Senate joined in passing a 2005 law which requires most local governments in that state to proactively disclose their three most-highly-compensated officials each year.  (See http://freedomfoundationofminnesota.com/minnesota-notifies-citizens-on-top-public-pay).

The logic behind the Minnesota law is simple – taxpayers can typically take one good look at the top numbers and determine whether or not there’s a problem in excessive government compensation.

If the compensation for the those at the top appears reasonable, then there’s probably little need to pore over the data for other government employees.  But if the top compensation is excessive, then that is a problem in its own right – and it could be a sign of a larger, system-wide problem in overly-generous compensation.

Frankly, rather than beating up on Gov. Scott, “good government” advocates in Florida (and elsewhere) ought to be promoting the passage of Minnesota-style transparency laws.  Because citizens in Florida (and throughout the country) need to be alerted to any problems in excessive compensation.  And the last thing taxpayers need right now is for runaway government pensions to be threatening the provision of vital public services, sucking more tax dollars out of the job-creating private sector, or undermining the pay of our most meritorious teachers.

William Mattox is a resident fellow at The James Madison Institute in Tallahassee, Florida.

****

Just thought 'd throw this out there....

Let's review,....A Rep. does what Dems do,....and gets bashed for it,.....Hmmmmm......

[fightingquaker13]

I've got no problem with it. I also have no problem with large pensions for key people either. After all, talent follows money, and if you good people, you have to pay a competative wage. It also keeps corruption down. Unfortunately some think that government employees should be low paid. I think that it should be to industry standards.  An engineer is an engineer. Same is true for a mechanic, lawyer or accountant. If you want top talent it will cost you. Just make the records public.
FQ13

[JC5123]

I've got no problem with it. I also have no problem with large pensions for key people either. After all, talent follows money, and if you good people, you have to pay a competative wage. It also keeps corruption down. Unfortunately some think that government employees should be low paid. I think that it should be to industry standards.  An engineer is an engineer. Same is true for a mechanic, lawyer or accountant. If you want top talent it will cost you. Just make the records public.
FQ13

WRONG. The only salaries and pensions you should be making public are those people that are ELECTED. They are the only ones who have the position to authorize what someone gets paid. A city engineer doesn't have that option. Plus, how do you stay competitive in an open market when everyone else knows your costs?

That's not to say that I don't think that the salaries of these people shouldn't be disclosed somewhere, just that they shouldn't just be open to the public. After all, what was the policy about showing your colleges your paycheck? I have worked several places where that was a serious no no.   

[tombogan03884]

Nothing new here, lying is a Dem tradition.
Examples:
  LIE- Republicans hate blacks, Lincoln was a republican,
FACT-  the KKK was founded by Dems to oppose Republicans
Lie - Republicans destroyed Social Security
FACT - SS was fine until the trust fund was stolen by Johnson and the Dems to pay for his "Great Society". Al Gore voting to give SS bennies to illegal aliens didn't help either.