Zombie Awardee Margaret Clark
Earlier this week I found myself having to travel to the city of Rosemead, in the San Gabriel Valley, east of Los Angeles. Unfortunately for one member of the Rosemead City Council, my trip to her working class city of roughly 54,000 people (according to the 2010 census) coincided with a decision that I made to start highlighting politicians who’s time in office has stretched on for decades, and who have become walking, talking arguments for term limits. As the President of California Term Limits, I am proud to announce that our first (of many) California Zombie Awards is being given to Republican councilwoman Margaret Clark.
Margaret Clark was first elected to the City Council in 1991 — nearly a quarter century ago. How long ago was this? M.C. Hammer was “in” — President George H.W. Bush took us to war in Iraq, and postage for a letter was only $.25.
Since her first election to part-time office, Clark has been eating at the taxpayer trough. You are going to need a few minutes to absorb the list of all of the goodies and perks Clark has voted to give herself, courtesy of the taxpayers — on top of what is now a $1,118.63 monthly stipend:
- First and foremost — no Obamacare exchange plan for Clark. She gets gold-plated taxpayer funded health care (valued at $1600 each month!).
- An additional $150/month or more because there is an additional fee when the council sits as the local Community Development Commission.
- Reimbursement for use of her cell phone and a few hundred bucks each year to buy a new phone.
- $500 a month in deferred compensation.
- A city-owned computer, fax machine, and telephone line in her home.
- A bevy of free insurance — life insurance, accidental death insurance and more.
- And, last but not least, a big fat pension. Clark is eligible to receive 3% of her annual compensation times the number of years she has been on the city council. I will help with the math. If she retires at the end of her current term, she will be paid out close to 75% of what she’s been pulling in — with COLA’s — for the rest of her life.
If, God forbid, Clark were ever to leave the council she has called home for so long, she actually cast a vote to give herself lifetime healthcare benefits courtesy of the taxpayers of Rosemead. Blech.
(A shout out to the city of Rosemead, who made it very easy to look up all of these benefits and the underlying votes here and here.)
Her claim to fame, as it were, is that Clark is the great-granddaughter of one of America’s more obscure Presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes — so Clark’s Republican roots run back many, many generations.
It’s worth mentioning, by the way, Councilwoman Clark in 2008 cast a vote against putting a very modest term limits measure on the ballot. Of course she did — why would she want to get off of the gravy train?
The award has been named the “Zombie” because these long-time serving local elected officials have pretty much by now lost any passion for their offices, but like zombies want to eat brains, these politicians want to gobble up as many benefits and perks as they kind, with kind of mindless obsession. Zombies never willingly leave office (Clark turns 82 next week).
Do you have a politician in your area who has been serving for more than twenty years who you think resembles a political zombie? If so, please send them my way.
While there are no term limits to retire this zombie, perhaps demographics will. Rosemead is now only 21.1% white, while it is 32% Asian and 33.8% latino. (Worthy of note that the Federal government had to remind the city council of said demographic shifts with this consent decree.)
In the meantime I will point out that apparently this scion of America’s 19th President doesn’t embrace her ancestors view on term limits. Hayes, when running for President, pledged to serve only one term in the White House — and he kept his word. Little did he know that one of his decedents would turn out to be a term limits zombie… Hayes knew that for our democratic republican to be preserved, those in public office should serve for a time, and then return back to the people.