I remember when Bill Clinton was the governor and he only got a $30,000 salary. I wondered why the people of Arkansas did not change that up to the level of surrounding states. A friend of mine laughly responded, “Orville Faubus got wealthy off a $10,000 salary. His wife must have been real thrifty.”
It is my view that we get what we pay for. We should raise the rates up to what surrounding states are paying. In the last few years Arkansas is still 49th in pay for the governor.
Here is a link to 2007 pay level for state lawmakers and a link to 2010 levels throughout the country. About the same amount of these states are controlled by Democrats as Republicans. I don’t think this is an issue that can be blamed on either party. Actually it was the Democrats in Arkansas that set up the current pay system and it was a liberal Democrat that destroyed it.
Here is a chart from 2005:
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