My 2 Cents: Do Oklahoma Politicians Get Paid Too Much?

Kelly Ogle, News 9

I know it's popular sport to bash politicians... heaven knows I've played a few times, but on the matter of how much we pay our Oklahoma legislators I'm not.

Recently our Oklahoma Impact Team did a good job of comparing the pay our legislators get relative to those in surrounding states... ours are at the top, but they're not getting rich at all.

They get paid 38-thousand 400 dollars a year as their base pay, for four official months of work.

But they truly are on the job year round, meeting with constituents, serving on interim committees in the summer and fall.

But the main reason I support paying legislators a decent salary, is that I don't want money concerns to preclude anyone from serving in the House or Senate.

Face it it's not easy to find a job for the other six or seven months every year that pays enough to support a family.

I don't know about you, but I don't want the wealthiest people to be the only ones who can afford to sit at the capitol and make the laws the rest of us must live under.