Maof

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Dec 08th
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Let us pause to salute the US Congress, whose members have once again shown themselves capable of surmounting partisan friction and institutional gridlock when it comes to serving a group of Americans they care about deeply: themselves.

 

When the 110th Congress returned from its holiday recess two weeks ago, the mountain of unfinished business it had left behind in 2007 was still waiting -- everything from judicial nominations to bilateral trade agreements to the terrorist surveillance program to the farm bill. But the gentlemen and gentlewomen of the House and Senate made sure that nothing would impede what has become almost an annual tradition: the hike in their own salaries. When the sun rose on Jan. 1, so did congressional pay, from $165,200 to $169,300 -- a tidy little jump of $4,100.

 

This marks the ninth raise Congress has given itself over the past decade. With the exception of 1999 and 2007, every New Year's Day since 1998 has triggered a boost in congressional salaries of between $3,100 and $4,900. While the median income of US families has increased by around $11,000 since 1998, the income of their representatives in Washington has increased by more than $30,000. Considering that the latter work for the former, the imbalance between them is striking.

 

It is also unconstitutional.

 

Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution authorizes Congress to pay itself with public funds, but the 27th Amendment circumscribes that authority. It provides: "No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened." The amendment limits the power of Congress to change its salary by preventing any pay raise from taking effect until the voters have had their say. Members of the House and Senate are free to alter the next Congress's salary, in other words, but they are prohibited from enlarging their own.

 

Within months of the amendment's ratification, however, congressional pay rose by $4,100, despite the lack of a vote in the House and Senate followed by an intervening election. A law enacted in 1989 -- ironically, an ethics-in-government act -- guarantees senators and representatives an automatic raise every January, unless they specifically vote to reject it. Whatever the merits of that law when it was passed, its incompatibility with the 27th Amendment is obvious. The whole purpose of the amendment is to give the electorate a political check on Congress's power to determine its compensation. The whole purpose of the 1989 law is to deprive the electorate of that check.

 

Absent a Supreme Court ruling, Congress is not likely to cease such brazen flouting of the Constitution -- and the Supreme Court has so far declined to take up the issue. (Congress sets judicial salaries, too.) A voter backlash might do the trick, but the public's abysmally low opinion of Congress rarely has any impact on Election Day. Well over 90 percent of incumbents seeking reelection are routinely returned to Congress.

 

Senators and representatives once understood that the right to set their own pay carried with it the responsibility to let their bosses - the American people - know what they were doing. So before taking a raise, they would hold public hearings and a roll-call vote. The process was uncomfortable, and properly so: It shouldn't be too easy for legislators to help themselves to public funds.

 

Jim Matheson But fewer and fewer members of Congress seem troubled by such ethical niceties. One of the handful who try vainly each year to stop the stealth pay raise, or at least put it to a vote, is Representative Jim Matheson, a Utah Democrat first elected in 2000.

 

"I didn't know anything about this until I got here," Matheson said during a phone call this week. "It troubled me that we were sneaking a pay raise through in such a secretive manner. So I got up on the House floor to raise a procedural objection -- and nobody else backed me up." Not until last summer did another member, Republican Lee Terry of Nebraska, join him in seeking an up-or-down vote to block the increase.

In an institution that tends to breed arrogance and self-entitlement, Matheson is at pains to remember that he works for the voters, not the other way around. "I just know most of my constituents don't benefit from an automatic adjustment in their pay each year; $169,000 sounds like a lot of money to them," he said.

 

It is a lot of money, and there will be more of it next year. Even more the year after that. Members of Congress may never get around to your priority, but they do look out for number one.

 

(Jeff Jacoby is a columnist for The Boston Globe.)

The Boston Globe Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Russian version

An introduction to MAOF
Haim Goldman

Dear Friends,

Would you believe that the undersigned has anything in common with

-- Professor Victor Davis Hanson (Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University),
-- Dr Charles Krauthammer, (Washington Post, Time, The Weekly Standard),
-- Caroline Glick (Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post),
-- Jonathan Tobin (Executive Editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent).

Amazingly, the editors of the MAOF website decided that the missives of the undersigned are worthy of translation and posting along the articles written by these distinguished authors.

The first letter was published without the consent of the undersigned.
However, after thorough examination of the laudable attitude of MAOF and of the excellent contents of the website, the undersigned had most graciously granted his permission for publication of his missives in both English and Russian.

“Analytical Group MAOF” [1] is an organisation founded about ten years ago by Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals. The attitude of MAOF is definitely pro-Zionist -- unambiguously and unapologetically.

One of MAOF’s primary purposes is providing information and analysis about Middle-Eastern and world affairs as well as about Israel’s history, values and dilemmas. In addition to extensive publication activity in various media, MAOF also organises excursions and seminars. While the vast majority of the contents of the MAOF website is in Russian, texts originally written in English are provided in the original [2] as well as in Russian.

There are arguably about 250 millions of Russian-speakers worldwide and many of them do not read English. The indisputable motivation for the author’s permission was to grant those millions of disadvantaged people the grand benefit of reading the author’s ruminations. If the author is ever maliciously accused that his tacit motivation for authorising the publication was his craving to be listed along with the above-mentioned distinguished writers, his plea will definitely be “nolo contendere”.

The editors of MAOF expressed their gratitude by granting the undersigned a privilege that no other author got – the opportunity to review and correct the Russian translation before publication. The original letters of the undersigned are at [3] and their Russian version is at [4]. At of today, only two letters are posted but several other letters are pending translation.

You are kindly ENCOURAGED TO RECOMMEND the MAOF website to your friends and colleagues worldwide, particularly those who speak Russian. Those who do not enjoy the benefit of proficiency in the exquisite Russian language can find many thought-provoking and inspiring articles about Middle-Eastern and world affairs in the English section [2].

Sincerely,

Haim Goldman
28.10.2006

REFERENCES:

[1] http://maof.rjews.net
[2] section.php3? sid=37&num=25
[3] authorg.php3? id=2107&type=a
[4] authorg.php3? id=2166&type=a