$144,000 is dang good money. It is well above the average salary for America and I bet everyone who is slaving away in a factory or at the mall working 50 hours just to scrape by would gleefully take a 6 figure salary. But the Strib is advocating changing a law so people can get rich off the taxpayer’s hard earned money....

Public service is public service. If you won’t do it unless you get private sector pay, then it isn’t public service.

What's got Andy's undies in such a bundle? Blame this editorial from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Ramsey County’s top manager will soon leave his job for a similar position in California, where he’ll get a $100,000 raise. And the No. 2 administrator of the state pension fund recently resigned to work for a county in Maryland, where he’ll earn $100,000 more than his boss here was paid.

When it comes to executive pay in government, Minnesota stands out — and not in a good way. Ours is the only state that ties top manager’s salaries to what the governor earns. Consequently, most city, county and state administrators earn no more than about $144,000, in some cases tens of thousands dollars less than their counterparts across the nation.

The salary restriction affects local governments’ ability to attract top talent. With an expected rash of baby boomer retirements and good managers leaving for better pay, officials need the flexibility to offer competitive salaries. That’s why the state-imposed salary cap should be repealed.

Now, Andy is right about one thing: $144,000 is more than made by your average factory worker or sales clerk. But factory workers and sales clerks don't manage 4,000 employees and oversee an annual budget of $580 million. The Ramsey County manager does.

While, as Andy notes, lots of people would "gleefully accept a six-figure salary", not many people have the qualifications to earn it. The pool of qualified applicants for such a job is quite small -- and, as the Star Tribune editorial indicates, the competition for qualified county managers is fierce. That's why counties in California are hiring away county managers from Minnesota. Andy can squawk all he wants about how the public sector shouldn't be competing with the private sector, but what happens when the public sector competes with the public sector?

In government, as anywhere else, you get what you pay for.