Sacramento Bee (California)
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata on Friday added three former colleagues to a growing list of politicians and Capitol insiders who sit on lucrative boards and commissions.
Former Democratic Sen. Wes Chesbro of Arcata was appointed to the state’s Integrated Waste Management Board, which promotes recycling and reducing the state’s waste. He will make $117,818 annually until his term expires Jan. 1, 2011.
Termed-out Sen. Liz Figueroa, a Democrat from Fremont, joins the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, which grants or denies unemployment insurance benefits on appeal. The job pays $114,191 a year until the term expires Jan. 1, 2011.
Former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan, a Democrat from Alameda, will serve on the California Medical Assistance Commission, which provides health care services to Medi-Cal recipients. Chan will receive $50,000 a year plus travel expenses. The appointment expires Jan. 1, 2009.
Chesbro, Figueroa and Chan join a long line of lawmakers, legislative staffers and insiders who have nabbed well-paying jobs that typically require attending meetings once or twice a month.
“There’s important regulatory work being done in California, but there is some extraordinary bloat,” said Doug Heller, executive director of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “And that bloat is usually reserved for politicians to hand out to their friends and associates.”
Perata defended his appointments, calling the former lawmakers experts in the environmental, insurance and medical fields.
“These are veteran lawmakers who know how state government works and who have expertise and experience in these issue areas. I know they will be intelligent,effective and devoted members of these boards,” Perata said in an e-mail statement.
