Wesselhoft Salary Reform Bill Moves In House

Having given the "skunk master" award last year to a bill tying statewide office holders' salaries to judicial pay, Rep. Paul Wesselhoft today said it was time to sever the salary relationship.

Last year Wesselhöft gave the first annual Skunk Master Award to the bill he said most exhibited the smell of waste, greed or hypocrisy. The Moore Republican created the award for the worst (smelliest) legislation of the year because he had grown weary of an ever-increasing state budget. The first bill to receive the award authorized a 21-percent pay raise for all judges of the Supreme Court, Court of Civil Appeals, and District Court Judges, which automatically increased by 21 percent the pay of all state-wide elected office holders such as the governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Wesselhöft promised House members and Oklahoma citizens to introduce a bill this year to sever state-wide elected officials' pay from judicial salary increases suggested by the Board on Judicial Compensation, the seven-member panel that advises the governor, House speaker and Senate president pro tempore on pay increases for judges. He did just that with House Bill 1085, which passed the full House unanimously on Monday.

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