Here We Go

I voted yesterday in a city election. Small turnout. Didn't matter anyway. As local resident Mickey Kaus puts it:

L.A.'s fifteen City Council members make $178,000 per year, way more than in New York ($112K) or Chicago ($110K) [which seems like plenty itself]. They have 320 staffers between them, they get free cars, plus taxpayer-financed $100,000 slush funds to dispense as they choose to local organizations. They don't have to feed parking meters! Plus they have approximately zero fear of not being reelected.

How do they make so much? This sidebar from the LA Weekly explains. I wouldn't mind the money if I felt we were getting good representation. Instead, we have a huge deficit, high costs, and no way to do much about it.

Of course, it's not like LA's that different from CA.