(AMES) – Former House Speaker and multimillionaire Nancy Pelosi and her lavishly overpaid union bosses for AFSCME and SEIU have joined their Super PACs together to attack Congressman Steve King (R-Kiron) for accepting scheduled pay adjustments even though King has consistently voted to freeze his own pay.
According to Mallory Factor’s Shadow Bosses, Gerald McEntee, president of AFSCME was paid $555,367.46 last year. Wm Lucy, his treasurer, was paid $847,810. Andy Stern, retired president of SEIU paid himself $306,388 his last year. AFSCME alone paid 16 executives more than $200,000, well over the pay of any Member of Congress.
Further, Christie Vilsack stood by as her husband, then Governor Tom Vilsack, signed a $26,000 pay raise to himself and as he accepted another substantial raise as Obama’s Secretary of Agriculture.
“Iowans despise hypocrisy,” said King. “This isn’t the pot calling the kettle black. This is the pot, the kettle, and the crock calling the porcelain dish black.”
Each time King has been able to cast a clear vote on Member salary, King has voted to freeze his own pay. These false attacks regarding Member pay have been found to be without merit by FactCheck.org and the Ames Tribune.King has also twice voted to cut the budget of his own office and also voted to freeze the pay of all cabinet members.
“Christie and Tom Vilsack would become one of the most lavishly overcompensated government couples in history,” said King. “Sending Christie Vilsack to Congress would nearly double the tax dollars to the Vilsacks who would be knocking down over $373,000 a year, not including double dipping into four taxpayer funded pensions.”
BACKGROUND
FACT: FactCheck.Org said, “So now there’s even less of an excuse to keep passing on those angry messages claiming that Congress is voting itself pay increases. They’re just not true.”
FACT: Congressman King has never voted to raise his own pay on a stand-alone vote
The Ames Tribune caught the Vilsack campaign and her supporters in their lies and reported Congressman King “did not vote in favor of those pay increases.” (The Ames Tribune, June 19, 2012)
FACT: Congressman King voted to freeze his own pay
“King has voted to freeze the pay of all federal employees, including members of Congress.” (The Ames Tribune, June 19, 2012)
FACT: Do as I say, not as I do. Christie Vilsack has not called on Sec. Tom Vilsack to return the pay raises he has received since 2008.
FACT: Congressman King voted against a pay raise for himself the only two times it came up as a stand-alone vote. First was via Roll Cal H.R. 5146, April 27, 2010 and on February 1, 2012, Congressman King voted to freeze his own pay. (Roll Call H.R. 3835, February 1, 2012).
FACT: Christie Vilsack clearly can’t run on her record and has asked her Washington friends to attack King’s efforts to create jobs by improving Iowa’s economy and agricultural trade via international trade missions.
