Late comment on the pending departure of Rep. Jim Ramstad from a life of "public service," after a lucrative 18 years. I mentioned a few months back his incongruous vote against a fat raise for himself and his colleagues. He was the only multi-term incumbent from Minnesota to do so.
At the time I thought it was a profile in humility that he would reject profiteering during a time when he and his colleagues are collectively at record low approval rates for their performance. But now I'm not so sure. Might his leaving have already been on his mind during this vote and he was simply denying his successor an extra $4,400 of undeserved gravy? As I said in my original post in June:
I'm willing to accept this as another piece of powerful evidence in favor of term limits. How many of these people would have voted for the increase if they knew they'd never personally benefit from it? And with the further knowledge that they'd be back home in their districts scratching out an existence, having to pay more for some other, less qualified stooge to do the job?
Not Jim Ramstad. It appears he's back to thinking like a taxpayer, instead of a tax consumer. Welcome back to the real world Jim.
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