Panel recommends nearly doubling Maine governor’s ‘embarrassingly low’ salary

Yeah, I think I can agree with this. They want to nearly double the salary of the Governor of Maine from $70,000 to $130,000. Maine is currently dead last in this category and would be 35th nationwide if the full raise is approved.

Maine’s judicial salaries are also quite deficient. Near the bottom in absolute terms for both the Supreme Court and trial courts. But when adjusted for Maine’s high cost of living, they are by far the worst in the nation and in fact truly pathetic.

While obviously governments should not be extravagant, neither should they be stingy on such a scale. If you don’t pay enough to attract talented individuals, you inevitably end up with sub par individuals.

Salary Rank Salary rank Salary rank
Raw salaries
Federal 265,600 Federal 229,500 Federal 216,400
California 261,013 1 California 244,700 1 D.C. 216,400 1
Illinois 240,016 2 Illinois 225,900 2 California 213,833 2
New York 233,400 3 New York 222,200 3 New York 210,900 3
Hawaii 229,668 4 Hawaii 212,784 4 Illinois 207,291 4
D.C. 229,500 5 Pennsylvania 202,898 5 Hawaii 207,084 5
Florida 220,600 6 Washington 200,603 6 Alaska 200,724 6
Pennsylvania 215,037 7 New Jersey 199,534 7 South Carolina 191,954 7
Washington 210,732 8 South Carolina 197,005 8 Washington 190,985 8
New Jersey 209,482 9 Alaska 193,836 9 New Jersey 189,000 9
Alaska 205,176 10 Massachusetts 190,087 10 Pennsylvania 186,665 10
Virginia 202,896 11 Tennessee 187,044 11 Delaware 185,444 11
South Carolina 202,057 12 Virginia 186,426 12 Massachusetts 184,694 12
Massachusetts 200,984 13 Colorado 180,697 13 Tennessee 180,600 13
Delaware 197,245 14 Connecticut 179,552 14 Georgia 178,599 14
Rhode Island 193,751 15 Utah 178,950 15 Virginia 175,826 15
Tennessee 193,488 16 Texas 178,400 16 Rhode Island 175,700 16
Connecticut 191,178 17 Georgia 177,990 17 Colorado 173,248 17
Colorado 188,151 18 Indiana 176,948 18 Connecticut 172,663 18
Utah 187,500 19 Maryland 176,633 19 Arkansas 172,298 19
Maryland 186,433 20 Arkansas 176,476 20 Texas 172,000 20
Texas 184,800 21 Nebraska 172,509 21 Utah 170,450 21
Minnesota 182,139 22 Minnesota 171,624 22 Nebraska 167,969 22
Indiana 182,030 23 Florida 169,554 23 New Hampshire 164,911 23
Arkansas 181,861 24 Alabama 165,072 24 Maryland 164,433 24
Nebraska 181,588 25 Nevada 165,000 25 Minnesota 161,108 25
Georgia 179,112 26 Michigan 163,909 26 Vermont 160,777 26
Missouri 178,641 27 Louisiana 163,331 27 Florida 160,688 27
Iowa 178,304 28 Ohio 163,309 28 Nevada 160,000 28
New Hampshire 175,837 29 Missouri 163,301 29 Wyoming 160,000 28
Ohio 175,214 30 Iowa 161,588 30 Louisiana 156,972 30
Wyoming 175,000 31 Arizona 154,534 31 Missouri 153,957 31
Louisiana 174,583 32 Oregon 154,244 32 Indiana 151,137 32
Nevada 170,000 33 Wisconsin 153,286 33 Iowa 150,444 33
Vermont 169,121 34 North Carolina 146,521 34 Ohio 150,183 34
Alabama 166,072 35 Oklahoma 146,059 35 Michigan 149,656 35
Michigan 164,610 36 Idaho 145,200 36 Arizona 149,383 36
Wisconsin 162,483 37 Mississippi 144,827 37 North Dakota 146,259 37
Arizona 159,685 38 Kansas 140,940 38 Oregon 145,188 38
North Dakota 159,409 39 New Mexico 140,797 39 Wisconsin 144,608 39
Oregon 157,356 40 Kentucky 136,631 40 Oklahoma 139,298 40
Idaho 155,200 41 Delaware 0 41 Idaho 139,200 41
Oklahoma 154,174 42 D.C. 0 42 North Carolina 138,617 42
North Carolina 152,843 43 Maine 0 43 Montana 136,896 43
Mississippi 152,250 44 Montana 0 44 Mississippi 136,000 44
Montana 149,681 45 New Hampshire 0 45 New Mexico 133,757 45
New Mexico 148,207 46 North Dakota 0 46 Maine 133,286 46
Kansas 145,641 47 Rhode Island 0 47 South Dakota 131,059 47
Kentucky 142,362 48 South Dakota 0 48 Kentucky 130,926 48
Maine 142,210 49 Vermont 0 49 Kansas 128,636 49
South Dakota 140,315 50 West Virginia 0 50 Alabama 126,018 50
West Virginia 136,000 51 Wyoming 0 51 West Virginia 126,000 51
Cost of living adjusted
Federal 167,571 Federal 144,795 Federal 136,530
Federal 297,092 Federal 256,711 Federal 242,058
Illinois 212,592 1 Illinois 200,089 1 South Carolina 191,380 1
Florida 211,505 2 Tennessee 196,681 2 Arkansas 191,018 2
Tennessee 203,457 3 South Carolina 196,416 3 Tennessee 189,905 3
Arkansas 201,620 4 Arkansas 195,650 4 Georgia 184,503 4
South Carolina 201,453 5 Pennsylvania 189,447 5 Illinois 183,606 5
Pennsylvania 200,782 6 Indiana 184,513 6 Pennsylvania 174,290 6
Missouri 192,294 7 Georgia 183,874 7 Texas 172,864 7
Virginia 190,513 8 Texas 179,296 8 Nebraska 170,527 8
Indiana 189,812 9 Missouri 175,781 9 Delaware 168,279 9
Texas 185,729 10 Nebraska 175,136 10 Missouri 165,723 10
Georgia 185,033 11 Michigan 175,116 11 Virginia 165,095 11
Ohio 184,630 12 Alabama 175,050 12 Utah 163,423 12
Iowa 184,580 13 Virginia 175,048 13 Washington 160,088 13
Nebraska 184,353 14 Ohio 172,085 14 Michigan 159,889 14
California 180,133 15 Utah 171,572 15 Ohio 158,254 15
Utah 179,770 16 California 168,875 16 Louisiana 157,602 16
Delaware 178,988 17 Washington 168,150 17 Indiana 157,599 17
Washington 176,640 18 Iowa 167,275 18 Iowa 155,739 18
Alabama 176,110 19 Louisiana 163,987 19 Alaska 155,479 19
Michigan 175,865 20 Minnesota 163,296 20 Colorado 155,240 20
Louisiana 175,284 21 Florida 162,564 21 Florida 154,063 21
Minnesota 173,301 22 Mississippi 161,999 22 Hawaii 153,396 22
Mississippi 170,302 23 Colorado 161,915 23 Minnesota 153,290 23
Hawaii 170,124 24 New Jersey 160,011 24 Wyoming 153,257 24
Colorado 168,594 25 Hawaii 157,618 25 Mississippi 152,125 25
New Jersey 167,989 26 Oklahoma 155,547 26 New Jersey 151,564 26
Wyoming 167,625 27 North Carolina 152,785 27 Oklahoma 148,347 27
Oklahoma 164,190 28 Wisconsin 151,618 28 California 147,573 28
Wisconsin 160,715 29 New York 151,259 29 Nevada 145,455 29
North Carolina 159,377 30 Alaska 150,144 30 North Carolina 144,543 30
Idaho 159,343 31 Nevada 150,000 31 Rhode Island 144,253 31
Rhode Island 159,073 32 Idaho 149,076 32 New York 143,567 32
Alaska 158,928 33 Kansas 145,750 33 Wisconsin 143,035 33
New York 158,884 34 Massachusetts 144,553 34 Idaho 142,916 34
Nevada 154,545 35 Kentucky 143,219 35 Massachusetts 140,452 35
Massachusetts 152,840 36 Arizona 142,955 36 North Dakota 139,693 36
North Dakota 152,253 37 New Mexico 138,443 37 Arizona 138,190 37
Kansas 150,611 38 Connecticut 137,167 38 Kentucky 137,239 38
Montana 149,531 39 Maryland 134,732 39 Montana 136,759 39
Kentucky 149,226 40 Oregon 133,429 40 D.C. 136,530 40
Arizona 147,720 41 Delaware 0 41 Alabama 133,635 41
Connecticut 146,049 42 D.C. 0 41 Kansas 133,026 42
New Mexico 145,730 43 Maine 0 41 New Hampshire 132,140 43
D.C. 144,795 44 Montana 0 41 Connecticut 131,905 44
Maryland 142,207 45 New Hampshire 0 41 New Mexico 131,521 45
New Hampshire 140,895 46 North Dakota 0 41 Vermont 130,713 46
West Virginia 139,774 47 Rhode Island 0 41 South Dakota 130,537 47
South Dakota 139,756 48 South Dakota 0 41 West Virginia 129,496 48
Vermont 137,497 49 Vermont 0 41 Oregon 125,595 49
Oregon 136,121 50 West Virginia 0 41 Maryland 125,426 50
Maine 119,605 51 Wyoming 0 41 Maine 112,099 51

It’s Maine. Kind of like being the night clerk at the La Quinta.

3 Likes

Ought to be the national median income. :man_shrugging:

I should note that even with the increase, they would still be about 49th in the country in judicial salaries when adjusted for cost of living.

So I can safely say there is nothing extravagant about this proposed raise. :smile:

The national median income is $63,000.

The national median income for attorneys is $120,910.

With the proposed pay raise, there salary, when adjusted for cost of living, would be just barely above the national median income for attorneys.

That’s what they ought to be paid then. :man_shrugging:

Do that and all they will be able to attract is Cooley Law School graduates. :smile:

2 Likes

Funny!

But I think more likely you’d wind up with people who don’t need money. Who in legal doesn’t need money?

People who worked at Cravath for 20 years…

Capitol Hill interns and junior staffers are often in the same boat. These kids made peanuts but somehow lived in Georgetown and drove BMWs…

Make salaries too low, and you create a barrier to entry for people who want/need to earn.

Just for perspective what is the minimum hourly rate in Maine?

First I agree that this raise is modest and just and needed to attract qualified staff.

Second…Pennsylvania isn’t as stingy as I thought it would be nationally.

Third…That national median income of 63K looks a little high.

What I found is about 47K.

Recently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their report on the Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers. Using information from the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, the BLS claims that in that quarter, the median income for a full-time wage or salary worker on a weekly basis was $900. For a 40-hour work week, this translates to a yearly income of approximately $46,800. This is a 5% increase on the previous year.

https://www.thestreet.com/personal-finance/average-income-in-us-14852178

:moneybag:

Why attract lawyers? We have far too many of them in politics.

That’s the household income. National median income for an individual is about half that.

Public servants will be more dependent on advice from private lawyers otherwise. One of the problems with congress right now is how much they depend on lobbyist lawyers to explain things to them.

The biggest problem with Congress is that there are too many lawyers as members.

Why do you think so?

Are you serious?

Trump, da Trump, Trump. Trump, da Trump Trump, daaaaaaaaaaaa.:sunglasses: