STATE PAY BOARD DOES LITTLE EXCEPT SHIELD ELECTED OFFICIALS

At the polls in November 1994, though probably few are even aware of it, Missouri voters adopted a new plan for determining the compensation to be paid to state officials. A new state compensation commission was established to hold hearings to listen to testimony and inquire into appropriate levels of compensation for state officials.

Members of the commission are nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. The commission then establishes new -- read higher -- compensation levels, which go into effect unless overturned by a majority vote of both houses of the General Assembly. The Legislature can veto the plan but can't change it. Affected are all six constitutional officers of state government, the members of the General Assembly and Missouri's judges at both the local and appellate levels.

We thought little of the idea and said so at the time on this page. It will insulate members of the General Assembly from direct accountability for decisions that have always rested with them. Further, it is likely to create inexorable pressure for faster and more frequent increases in compensation. This is especially true, we fear, for judges, many of whom chronically complain about alleged under-compensation and many of whose members work overtime, behind the scenes mostly, for raises.

Doubts and objections aside, though, a majority of voters bought the idea and made it law. The commission held the first of its hearings in this part of our state last night in Cape Girardeau.

Here's hoping that the commission members who have taken on this responsibility approach it soberly and don't just become a cheering section for fatter state salaries, with resultant higher costs to taxpayers. Government has consistently grown fast enough without the added spur this commission could mean.