Sen. Abel Maldonado's decision this week to accept the new legislative pay cut immediately extends his lengthy record of being a salary maverick consistently paid less than colleagues.
Maldonado, serving his fifth year in the Senate, is receiving the same $99,000 salary that he made when he came to the Capitol as a freshman Santa Maria assemblyman in 1998.
The Republican instructed the controller this week to cut his salary even further beginning June 1, to $95,291, the amount approved this week by the state's independent salary-setting commission.
Current pay for Senate and Assembly members is $116,208, and they are eligible for about $35,000 in annual per diem for living expenses.
Maldonado won't need to borrow lunch money, regardless.
His legislative salary losses were softened by separate paychecks totaling between $200,000 and $300,000 in business income last year and partnership interests in two enterprises valued at more than $1 million apiece, records show.
The state Constitution bars the state from cutting legislators' salaries until their current term ends, but officeholders voluntarily can opt to reduce their own pay.
For Maldonado, the bottom line is that he has foregone more than $50,000 in cumulative salary since 1998, and he is on pace to lose an additional $72,000 before he is termed out in 2012.
Nitpickers could say that publicity received from his self-imposed pay cuts might pay Maldonado, who lost a bid for state controller in 2006, even more valuable dividends in campaign chest-thumping if he seeks statewide office again.
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