California lawmaker skips Capitol meetings but collects tax-free per diem payments
Since Karen Bass announced her bid for Congress in February, the former speaker of the state Assembly has been missing from the chamber she once led more than she has been there. Bass nonetheless continued to collect the tax-free per diem payments that lawmakers are given to cover expenses associated with attending legislative sessions.
What is wrong with this picture?
Nothing. Politicians as a general rule never do any useful work when in office. So not showing up for work and getting paid anyway is hardly out of line for a politician. And considering how corrupt and incompetent most politicians are, it is a good thing that they rarely show up for work, or the state of California would have gone bankrupt much sooner than it will.
On March 3, Bass stood on the steps of City Hall with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to announce his endorsement. Two weeks earlier, she was joined by a trio of City Council members — Eric Garcetti, Paul Krekorian and Tom LaBonge — to announce their backing.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is probably the perfect politician to endorse state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has almost a perfect record of avoiding work. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is famous worldwide for being almost as unethical, corrupt, incompetent as any Mexican National or Chicago politician. So if Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is endorsing state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, then I suspect we all know what kind of job she has been doing and will be doing if reelected.
Par for the course for any unionized or tenured position. Politicians are essentially tenured -- once in office they're tough to get rid of no matter how incompetent they are. And like union workers they get benefits even if they're off the job.
ReplyDeleteThere are union members "working" for the Los Angeles county government who haven't been in to work in months, having called in 'sick' permanently. They still collect full pay and benefits, at taxpayer expense.