Suit Seeks Repeal of Raises for Republican Assembly Aides

SACRAMENTO —  Assembly Republicans have violated the state Constitution by illegally handing out retroactive pay raises to dozens of their staffers, a taxpayer lawsuit charged Friday.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a San Francisco community organizer and a Los Angeles health care worker, was prompted by a Times story on raises that reported that at least 118 legislative staffers had been given raises that were made more than a month retroactive.

Retroactive raises, the lawsuit alleges, are prohibited by a provision in the California Constitution that bars lawmakers from making any gift of public money “to any individual.” Another section also prohibits legislators from granting “extra compensation or extra allowance to any public officer.”

The lawsuit asks the court to issue a restraining order that would bar the practice and to direct the return of all retroactive pay to the state treasury.

Calling the lawsuit “blatantly political,” a spokesman for the Assembly said it unfairly named Speaker Curt Pringle (R-Garden Grove) as one of the defendants when he had not personally granted any retroactive raises.

Public affairs director John Nelson argued that the Assembly had been forced by a paperwork snafu to give some of the 118 staffers back pay and that that was not a violation of the Constitution.

He said the staffers had been promised raises but the paperwork on the raises had been lost during the administration of former Speaker Brian Setencich (R-Fresno). Nelson said it took weeks to reconstruct the lost documents when Pringle took over in January.

Setencich could not be reached for comment.

Glenn Rothner, the Los Angeles lawyer who filed the lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, said the Constitution is very specific in its language.

“The people who framed our Constitution knew there was a risk any time there is a change of leadership in state offices that there would be a temptation to engage in patronage,” he said. “It was precisely to avoid this particular kind of patronage that they included this prohibition against retroactive pay increases.”

The two taxpayers who brought the lawsuit said they had been angered by what they considered the hypocrisy of elected officials who complained about waste in government and then gave big raises to their employees. “I’m mad as hell that these politicians waste my tax dollars to pay illegal bonuses to their own staff,” said Ed Gmerek.

The Times report found that more than 300 GOP staffers have received sizable raises in the first year and half after Republicans gained a majority in the Assembly. A number of the raises were made retroactive by as long as 10 months.