One of three advisory referenda for Madison County voters asks whether automatic pay increases for state lawmakers should end, a question which local Republican candidates for state representative urge a "yes" vote.
Amy Elik, running against incumbent Monica Bristow (D-Alton), and Lisa Ciampoli, running against incumbent Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville), criticized their opponents in a Zoom press conference Tuesday for having voted for a state budget that raised their pay in 2019.
According to Elik and Ciampoli, the cost of living adjustment (COLA) is written into the state’s constitution and is an automatic pay raise, unless legislation is filed and passed to prevent such a raise from being enacted. In 2019, the General Assembly, including Bristow and Stuart, voted for a lawmaker pay raise in the state’s budget, and in 2020, no such legislation was passed to prohibit the constitutionally-required raises.
“My opponent, Monica Bristow, believes lawmakers deserve annual raises, but I couldn’t disagree more,” said Elik, a certified public accountant (CPA). “While the state is in a financial mess, we literally cannot afford to routinely increase lawmakers’ pay, and do so at the expense of taxpayers. I encourage voters to stand with me in voting yes on this referendum to urge the General Assembly to put a stop to this ridiculous practice.”
While the lawmaker pay referendum is non-binding, Elik said it would "give a very loud voice to state legislators."
"I think taxpayers are tired of" increasing legislator pay," she said.
Ciampoli said she hopes legislators feel pressure from citizens if a majority say to put an an end to automatic increases to take the burden off taxpayers, given the state's out of balance budget.
"I have a proven track record of not approving pay raises," Ciampoli said, "Katie Stuart voted yes to pass (legislator pay increase). I hope we see that change."