Payback time for Cellucci

By Ellen J. Silberman

July 26, 2000 Web posted at: 12:21 PM EDT (1621 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (The Boston Herald) -- Gov. Paul Cellucci, granted a pay hike by lawmakers, plans to return the favor, signing a backdoor pay raise that could pad legislative paychecks by as much as $12,000 a year, administration sources say.

Cellucci also plans to sign a $10,000 raise for the governor's council, a vestige of colonial government that meets for just 30 minutes a week to approve his judicial appointments.

Cellucci's decision to approve the controversial raises comes just six months after the Legislature granted him a $45,000-a-year pay hike.

But an administration source said Cellucci's own raise never came up in deliberations over what to trim from the $21.6 billion fiscal 2001 budget passed last week.

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``We're focusing more on the bottom line of the budget,'' said a source. ``If they think they deserve these pay raises they can justify them in the upcoming election.''

But few lawmakers will have to answer to voters since only a handful face opposition in the fall.

Barbara Anderson of Citizens for Limited Taxation and Government described Cellucci's decision to approve the raises as a practical one.

``It crossed my mind to ask him not to (sign it but) there's really nothing you can do about the pay raise,'' Anderson said, noting that lawmakers would easily override a veto that threatened their self-interest.

Despite a House rule that bars lawmakers from raising their own pay during election years, the Legislature voted last week to double their office expense and ``per diem'' travel allowance.

The Senate has no rule against election-year pay raises.

The change slipped into the budget - and about to be approved by Cellucci - adds $3,600 to each lawmaker's office budget, money that lawmakers can legally pocket. The travel allowance increase would hike the pay of lawmakers who live far from the State House by $9,000.

Lawmakers who live in the Boston area could pocket an extra $1,000 a year to cover their travel. If the economy continues to grow at the current rate rank-and-file members will see their pay jump by $3,000 in January.

The administration is looking to trim $150 million to $200 million from the bottom line. The monetary cuts have yet to be finalized, but sources said Cellucci has already made decisions about several of the 500 ``outside sections'' - including the pay hikes - that make changes to state laws.

Cellucci plans to announce all his vetoes on Friday.

Cellucci plans to sign a provision that will allow political contributions by credit cards, and veto a section that would fine the administration $1,000 any time it misses a deadline to get a report or study to the Legislature.

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