A Reform Proposal

After yesterday's election, and the abysmally poor choices we were given I would like to make the following reform proposal:

Abolish the set salaries for our elected officials and replace them with a formula that would set their salaries at a level 10% higher than their last private sector W-2 form.

The current system, has given us politicians who are motivated by the money - the opportunity to earn a salary higher than they could ever earn anywhere else. People with talent find that the salaries are lower than what they can make in the real world, and noblesse oblige notwithstanding, they simply choose not to become involved in politics.

Let's look at our judges. I am not a lawyer, so I don't know who was on law Review etc. etc. but most of our judges are making more as judges than they were as attorneys. On the other hand, some of the people who I, as a pedestrian observer, would look to as the better legal minds in the community (Cambria, Condo, Vilardo, Dimitroff, Greene, Attea, Lippes, etc.) never throw their hats in the ring.

Our elected officials are the same. Think about all of our elected officials and ask yourself what was the last private sector job they had. Personally, I would rather have my taxes raised to pay $1,000,000 for someone like Bob Wilmers, Donna Fernandes, Carl Paladino, Don Boswell, Bill Greiner, Marsha Handerson, Danny Wegman or Tom Golisano, that pay for just about any of the people who "represent" me.

Before the election we would be informed what each of the candidates would "cost" us, and we could vote based on that knowledge. But why overpay for someone whose last real job was (fill in the blank with your favorite politician's background)when we could get them for pennies on the dollar based on this new system?

What do you think?