Governor wants teachers to work for free

Hasn't this guy ever heard of the Thirteenth Amendment?

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski is part of the DLC strain of the once-great Democratic Party, and he has seldom met a Republican idea he didn't like. (For instance, he strongly supported Oregon's version of the Patriot Act that was defined by the failed Sudafed crackdown.)

Now Kulongoski wants teachers to work for free. He says teachers should forego being paid this spring, to bring the state budget under control. At a news conference, the embattled governor told teachers, "You do it without pay."

And get this: As a sign of Kulongoski's royal arrogance, he acted like he was being the world's greatest altruist by proposing a pay cut for himself that isn't nearly as severe. He boasted that he'd cut his own $93,600 annual salary by 5% - which means he'd still be making more than teachers make even without a pay cut.

Gee, nobody's going to want to be governor if they only make $89,000 a year. (That's sarcasm!)

Not only that, but Kulongoski plans to give himself some days off - which teachers won't receive.

Hey, why don't we all work for free? Maybe instead of worrying about counting money, we can all just be paid with a bowl of soup and a cot each day.

But that would be silly, right? So why does Ted Kulongoski expect teachers to work without pay when he'll still get almost $89,000 a year?

(Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/02/kulongoski_to_teachers_work_fo.html)