It's a no-brainer - MPs will have to take a pay cut

FRIDAY, FEB. 10: Some say power is the only reality in politics. But power is also illusion. It is an act. It is theatre.

From the multi-coloured cock strutting past the henhouse to His Excellency The Governor in a white pith helmet with ostrich plumes, acting important has always been an important element of… well, being important.

The Bermuda Cathedral was built on a hill, with a big tower, for symbolic reasons. So was the House of Assembly. So was Government House.

The king sits on a throne. The boss sits in an ergonomic executive high-backed swivel chair in a big corner office. This isn’t just for comfort: It’s to remind us that they are much more important than we are.

The theatre of election politics — and especially re-election politics — is more complicated. The performers have to balance scripts that conflict with each other.

On one hand, our leaders keep control by insisting on the trappings of leadership. Their photographs gaze down on passenger arriving at the airport. They are spirited around in large and shiny cars. They put ‘The Honourable’ in front of their names, and are disturbed if it is forgotten.

When it is your job to make important decisions, you need people to accept that you are the leader, and that they are merely the followers. Hierarchy is important for stability. Our leaders can accomplish more if there are few fights and challenges.

On the other hand, leaders in democracies still need to win votes, no matter how high and mighty they can pretend to be. They need to appear leader-like without appearing aloof. They need to convince voters that they know and understand their everyday tribulations. They are high and mighty… But they are also one of us.

This is especially true in small places like Bermuda, where familiarity quickly punctures self-inflation. “She thinks she’s God almighty, but I knew her when…”, you hear people say. “His mamma told me…,” they tell you.

“You should hear what his first wife has to say.”

It is the one of the greatest accomplishments of an able, successful politician is to perform these two opposing acts — playing the common man and the illustrious leader — at the same time.

At no time is this balancing act more important than the present.

Government spending has been growing fast and, now that the economy has taken a dive and the debts are due for collection, it has to cut back in a hurry.

It has been busy asking everyone — from international businesses to restaurant owners and landscaping companies, ferry passengers, bus passengers, charities that depend on government grants, senior citizens depending on government health insurance — to sacrifice.

Now Government has asked its employees to take an eight per cent pay cut.

This was made palatable in the short-term by dropping mandatory pension contributions, so worker will get the same take-home pay. Someone will have to pay in the end, of course — either workers, taxpayers or retirees who lose their pensions.

It is ironic (or maybe just outrageous) that a Government that has made pension savings mandatory and inviolate for ordinary citizens and private companies is now dipping into public pension funds to the tune of many millions, just to keep itself afloat.

It is surely not the kind of symbol a Government should be proud of, no matter what script it is playing off of — whether it’s playing the role of esteemed leader or humble man of the people.

Worse yet, the Government has continued to pussyfoot over cutting its own pay.

Last April, when the Premier sought wage concessions from government workers, Bermuda Industrial Union president Chris Furbert said she might have a deal — if she would agree to a “symbolic” cut in her own pay. She refused.

This week, when challenged when meeting with unionized workers, Ms. Cox agreed that she would cut her own pay. She finally recognized the importance of the symbolism.

But even this week, Ms. Cox didn’t commit to anybody else in her Cabinet or Parliament getting pay cuts like those she was seeking from others.

Government politicians interviewed by the Bermuda Sun this week didn’t seem hostile to the idea of a cut in their own pay.

But it clearly wasn’t something that has been resolved — as it should have been long before anybody had the gall to ask others to make big sacrifices of their own.

One of them, Walter Roban, said a pay cut for politicians had not been discussed “widely” in his caucus. Another, Walter Lister, said: “I haven’t thought about it very much.”

Neletha Butterfield, apparently unaware that Government workers had been asked to give up eight per cent, offered to give up five per cent. “People think we make a lot of money, but we don’t,” she said.

We need our leaders to be genuine leaders — and genuinely in tune with the people they expect to follow them. A pay cut for Cabinet Members and all MPs must come. It is inevitable. The Premier cannot avoid it.

Politics is full of difficult decisions, decisions that are often painfully difficult and sometimes seemingly impossible to resolve. This one, though, is a no-brainer. It has to be done.