FORKS — Rep. Jim Buck says he will donate his recently approved $250 state salary increase for 2004 to the Forks Hospital Foundation.
Rep. Lynn Kessler is also donating her raise to charity.
In fact, Kessler has been giving away all the pay raises she’s gotten as a legislator since 1993.
Buck, R-Joyce, Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and state Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, represent Jefferson and Clallam counties in the state Legislature.
By a 11-to-5 vote, the state salary commission approved a 2 percent pay raise for legislators and other state elected officials in 2004.
No increase was approved for 2003, except for the secretary of state and the insurance commissioner.
The decision is controversial given the state’s $2.65 billion budget deficit and the likelihood state workers and teachers will not get cost-of-living increases during the next two years.
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