Minnesota's Big Spender: Gurknecht Spends Taxpayer Dollars On Himself

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 2006
Contact: Meredith Salsbery, 507-351-7730
http://www.timwalz.org/

MINNESOTA'S BIG SPENDER: GUTKNECHT
SPENDS TAXPAYER DOLLARS ON HIMSELF

Last week Gutknecht ranked fist among Minnesota's Representatives in accepting
free travel. Despite vacationing for free, Gutknecht voted this week to raise his own
pay.
US Rep. Gil Gutknecht voted Tuesday to give himself and his colleagues a $3,300 pay
raise. The raise passed in spite of the fact that this Congress has recently received its
lowest job performance ratings ever from the American public and will likely beat the
record for fewest days in session set by the "Do-Nothing Congress" of 1948. The raise
will increase Gutknecht's salary to $168,500 annually. Since 2000, Gutknecht has voted
to allow pay increases for himself totaling $23,230.
Gutknecht's pay increases are more than twice the $10,712 salary that a full-time
minimum wage worker will earn this year. The federal minimum wage has not been
increased since September 1997. Estimates suggest that nearly 87,000 Minnesotans
would benefit from a minimum wage increase. According to the US Census Bureau the
median income for a family of four in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District is $40,941.
Gutknecht acknowledged to the Wall Street Journal in March that there is a problem with
wages. "Mr. Gutknecht asks: 'Why is there still economic angst in the United States? The
answer is the average working American hasn't had a real pay raise.'"
DFL congressional candidate Tim Walz said, "I can tell my opponent why the average
American worker hasn't seen a raise. It is because he hasn't pushed to increase the
minimum wage. It is because under his watch health insurance costs have skyrocketed
and American workers are losing economic ground as those rates erode their paychecks."
The working poor are not the only ones receiving less compensation while Gutknecht
raises his own wage. In 2003, Gutknecht voted against an amendment that would provide
service members a salary bonus in recognition of their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The amendment would have provided funding to grant a $1,500 bonus to every American
service member serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, including National Guard and reserve
forces.
An American service member who has served in the armed forces for more than three
years and has attained the enlisted rank of E-4 will earn $22,111 this year, which is about
$1,000 less than Gutknecht has awarded himself in pay raises since 2000.
Walz, a retired Command Sgt. Major who served in Operation Enduring Freedom said, "I
am disappointed to learn that my opponent gave himself a raise but would not give a onetime
bonus to my brothers in arms who saw combat overseas. I've spent the last 17
months listening to the people of this district and I can safely say that my opponent's
priorities are not shared by his constituents."
Since the attacks of September 11th, 2001, more than 11,000 members of the Minnesota
National Guard have seen active federal duty, including operations in Afghanistan and
Iraq.

http://www.timwalz.org/index.asp?Type=B_LIST&SEC={0BC782E7-615E-4BA9-8582-25AF2864A4A2}