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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Gilchrest Only Gets 40%


Contrary to popular belief, Wayne Gilchrest will only receive 40% of his Congressional pay once he's voted out of Office.

For many years there has been an e-mail that goes around stating Congressmen get 100% of their pay until they die, that's just not true. It's true if you have 20 years or more in the Congress but if you don't reach that plateau, in Wayne's case he'll get 40% of it. "Newt changed all of that."

I had a wonderful conversation with Mrs. Gilchrest over this matter the other day and she even mentioned the Health Care that's provided to Congressmen and IMO it's a joke! You get the choice of three policies, 2 of which are HMO's and the other is a Blue Cross/Blue Shield Policy you have to pay into, (I believe). Most recently Mrs. Gilchrest went to the Doctor's Office for arthritis in her back and their Insurance Policy REFUSED to pay for it.

So things are NOT as glorious as they have been made out to be. I'm NOT at all suggesting that the Gilchrest Family is in any way, shape or form upset with what is offered to them. They are very grateful for the income, the health coverage and the opportunity to have served the State of Maryland and the United States.

However, should Gilchrest have served the 20 years required, Marylander's would be paying out a full $125,000.00 a year for the rest of his life and or perhaps his Wife's life to boot. At the rate we're looking at today the Gilchrest Family will receive a $50,000.00 a year salary for the rest of his life.

Not too shabby for an old Eastern Shore Painter, eh Wayne?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe, I beg to differ with your "facts" here in this blog. The insurance part is correct. However, the retirement income is not and Marylanders do not pay for it. Members have an IRA like many other companies offer. Members are offered the same as any federal employee which is what they are, of course. Twenty years served do not entitle a member to receive their full pay. It is just not true. It used to be that way prior to Newt entering the picture and once the absurdity of it was realized, (along with other perks taken away) legislation was proposed and passed to change all of that greediness. I would hope those members still on the "old" plan realize the unfairness of their huge benefit pkg. and donate much to charity or perhaps send it back. Somehow I don't think so.

joe albero said...

As I respect your comment, I got this information right from the horses mouth. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

Hm. Isn't congressional salaries at about $167,000 yearly? Or did I misread something back a ways? If he gets 40 per cent of that large a salary, wouldn't it be more than $50,000? Maybe Anon 1:35has better salary info.

A. Goetz

Anonymous said...

Here's a good explanation more in depth from Snopes.com debunking the b.s. emails that went around about this...If you want to "cut to the chase," scroll about half way down to get to the explanatory part and past the b.s. emails.