German legislators have long opposed disclosing any income they make in addition to their legislative stipend. They wanted neither the amount of extracurricular compensation nor the sources to be divulged to the constituents.
Very slowly, they have made some concessions, so that today we at least get a bracket of income and a rough idea of the types, be it speeches, royalties or other. They still do not disclose their wealth, only the rough additional income during their time in parliament.
The latest numbers are out. Of all parties from "left to right", the number of legislators making more ends meet and the money made are lowest for the Die Linke ("the left"), followed by the Green Party. They are the two parties that form the opposition in the current Merkel led administration.
The next rung on the extra cash ladder is occupied by the social democrats SPD, followed by the christian democrats, CDU, and the christian social union, CSU, "on the right".
This gradient from left to right is not unexpected, there are simply more company boards and opaque government agencies willing to dole out some cash to those in the middle and on the right than on the left.
However, a point ignored by the media reports on this particular subject made TheEditor smile (rare and thus newsworthy).
Several weeks ago, this very same parliament voted for an increase in legislative pay by about 10% from about 9 300 Euros to just over 10 K, introduced a new bonus for committee chairs and made sure a lavish pension is available for later.
The raise was justified by fair compensation for the ungodly hours of work everybody in Berlin pulls.
Two parties voted against the increase: Die Linke and the Green Party.
Everybody else voted in favor.
So, let's point out the obvious: those who make the most money outside of their parliamentary day jobs voted for the legislative pay hike. Those who are a bit "poorer" rejected it.
As to earning extra money by actual work (speeches, board meetings, etc.), those who pursue this aspect of happiness might be offended if we suggest that these activities might make the tiniest of dents in the work on behalf of their constituents.
We leave any value judgment or ethics discussion to our readers, but here are a couple of starting points:
1) Liberals and leftists are less greedy than mainstream or right of center politicians?
2) Liberals and leftists are really bad at judging the monetary value of their work and need the support of mainstream colleagues to get ahead?
3) Rejecting the hike was pure politics meant to make the liberals and leftists look good because they knew they'd get the dough anyway?
4) German tax revenue is at a record high, so the increase is nothing but peanuts and outrage is overblown?
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