Chautauqua Co. Legislators Want to Fire Themselves

Some of Chautauqua County's Legislators have determined that there are too many people like them around. According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, Rudy Mueller, D-Lakewood, and Scot Stutzman, I-Jamestown are again introducing a measure to eliminate legislator positions, this time shrinking the governing body from 25 to 19. Also on the agenda is a proposal to eliminate the legislator's salaries, sponsored by John Runkle, R-Stockton; John Gullo, D-Fredonia; Shaun Heenan, D-Dunkirk and George Borrello, R-Irving. The Post-Journal reports that the proposal to eliminate salaries is doomed to fail, while the proposed elimination of legislators is likely to pass.

Apparently most Chautauqua County legislators would rather risk losing their job than to keep it without pay. In truth, saving $250,000 in a budget with a deficit of $18,000,000 doesn't mean much, but it's probably a gesture that most voters would appreciate.