TN legislators -- ignorant, proud and going for the green

Bill Hobbs has a great story:

The Monday Knoxville News Sentinel has a very revealing headline: Many legislators unaware pensions rose by $13,600. The subhead: "But most not critical of benefits that increase the longer they serve."

So there you have it. They vote on stuff that they don't understand, and aren't embarrassed about it.

And:

The legislature basically voted to give bigger pensions to legislators who serve longer, with the maximum being reached at 34 years of service in the legislature, after which point a retired legislator would receive $31,100 annually until death for doing nothing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, per capita income in Tennessee last year was $31,107 - and most Tennesseans work hard to earn it at full-time jobs.

Legislators, on the other hand, will make that much for retiring from a part-time job.

Since Jimmy Naifeh runs the legislature (at least the House) as a dictatorship, I'm not surprised that legislators claim not to know what they voted on. They know their votes don't make much difference.