Taking the gloves off, opponents of a proposal to convert the Legislature to part time took a personal shot today at the measure's sponsor - urging Assemblywoman Shannon Grove to voluntarily reduce her own salary and per diem payments.
"I'd respectfully suggest that (Grove) would be a lot more credible on this issue if she would practice what she preaches," former Democratic Assemblyman Dario Frommer, now leading opposition to Grove's proposal, said in a written statement.
Grove, a Republican from Bakersfield, must collect 807,615 valid voter signatures to qualify her constitutional amendment to have the Legislature meet for only three months per year, rather than nine, for the November statewide ballot.
The measure also would cut lawmakers' annual pay from $95,000 to $18,000, require legislators to adopt two-year state budgets and bar officeholders from accepting state employment or appointment to a state post while serving in the Capitol or for five years afterward.
In a four-minute video released last week, Grove asked voters to help her "take back this great state." Some new laws passed by the Legislature are outrageous - such as regulating shark fins -- and a part-time Legislature would "reduce the damage" it causes to the state, she said.
Since Grove feels that lawmakers should be paid only $1,500 per month, she should lead by example and cut her own $95,291 salary, according to Frommer, of Los Angeles, who also suggested that she turn down $142 per diem payments for the six months that she seeks to slice from the Legislature's annual session.
Grove and partner Ted Costa of People's Advocate are scheduled to be interviewed by The Bee's Capitol Bureau at 11 a.m. today. Readers are welcome to submit questions on the Capitol Alert Facebook page.
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