We clearly need to pay legislators a living wage so that good legislators do not have to resign to pay for rent and housing. What is so out of sync is that the proposed wage for the new Portland City Council which will have arguably a less consequential job than state legislators is about 4 times what state legislators get paid.
At the same time the issue is no longer about having more women and men of color in the legislature. We are past that point. More than 50% of Democratic House members are women and another 14% are men of color. In Portland the majority of the current Council is female or POC and the Multnomah Board are entirely women. In the Senate, 70% of the Democratic Caucus are women or POC men. 80% of our statewide elected officers are women.
I have no thoughts on how to adjust the Republican problem other than reducing the number of their members.
We clearly need to pay legislators a living wage so that good legislators do not have to resign to pay for rent and housing. What is so out of sync is that the proposed wage for the new Portland City Council which will have arguably a less consequential job than state legislators is about 4 times what state legislators get paid.
At the same time the issue is no longer about having more women and men of color in the legislature. We are past that point. More than 50% of Democratic House members are women and another 14% are men of color. In Portland the majority of the current Council is female or POC and the Multnomah Board are entirely women. In the Senate, 70% of the Democratic Caucus are women or POC men. 80% of our statewide elected officers are women.
I have no thoughts on how to adjust the Republican problem other than reducing the number of their members.