European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 columns the stars and stripes sunday. December 28,1986 James Kilpatrick How much is a . Public servant really Worth is a member of Congress Worth s135.000 a year is a Cabinet Secretary Worth si60,000 a year last week the president s commission on executive legislative and judicial salaries recommended such salaries. The recommendations Call for some prayerful though. In fining pay Scales whether in the Public or private sector two considerations play a significant role. One is economic what compensation must be offered in order to obtain the level of competence required by the Job the second is moral whal is fair we know How these things work in private employ ment. This past season the Boston red sox paid out fielder Jim Rice almost $2 million. George Brett of the Kansas City royals commanded a ,471,000. Twenty one other players Drew salaries of $1 million or More. At the other extreme thousands of Domestic servants worked for the minimum wage of $3.65 an hour whal pay was required what pay was just in the private sector the economic question lends to answer itself. The chief executive officer of a Multi Bil lion Dollar corporation earns his pay or he does t. The directors and shareholders find their answer in the Bottom line. The question of fairness becomes a matter of conscience. In Public employment the same considerations apply but they apply differently. It is impossible to say what salaries arc necessary to prompt talented men and women to run for Congress to seek places on the Federal Bench or to accept top positions in executive agencies. There is no demonstrable Way to establish the Worth of a senator. Reporters who cover Capitol Hill could name a dozen senators who in their judgment Are Worth twice the present base pay of 177,400 As of Jan. 1 and they could name a dozen who Aren t Worth half that amount. The question of fairness in Public employment especially at the lop Levels that were the commission s sole concern is equally Tabagh. Most members of con Gress work hard at their responsible jobs almost All of them must maintain two Homes Many of them have sons and daughters of College age. Despite periodic raises they now receive much less in purchasing Power than they received 20 years ago. Is this fair there is another Side. The base pay of a senator or representative is Only part of the Story. In 1985 senators picked up $2.4 million in speaking fees. They gave $723,000 to Charity and kept the rest for them selves 65 senators made at least $20,000 in this Fash Ion. Nearly 100 members of the House earned the limit of $22,530 on the lecture Trail. The House puts a modest ceiling on outside income from other sources the Senate which next year will permit members to earn up to 40 percent of their base pay in speaking engagements puts no limits on other forms of income. In my own View for whatever it May be Worth the commission s recommendation of a 74 percent in crease in congressional pay is unwarranted a base salary in the neighbourhood of $90,000, coupled with a strict limitation on outside income seems More reasonable to  of the judiciary enjoy no such perquisite Able men and women always will aspire to the prestige of the Federal Bench. A vacancy has Only to develop before a dozen candidates make their ambitions known. But in recent years Federal courts have loll some exceedingly talented judges for economic Rea sons. The typical Federal judge now earns less than the salary paid to a Middle level corporate lawyer. This in t fair. The recommended salaries of $130,000 for District judges and $135,000 for circuit judges May be a bit of excessive but they Are not wildly unreasonable. One trouble with the commission s executive recommendations is that they treat too Many titles equally. Is a member of a regulatory commission Worth $120,000 a year in so demanding an Agency As the securities and Exchange commission yes. At the con Sumer product safety commission no. A Secretary of defense looking after a $292 billion budget is certainly Worth si60,000. Other Cabinet posts May not have the same value. At level v in the civil service where we find career administrators $110,000 is not too much. That is it is not too much for skilled persons c Urt Varall Praia by ducats Flora Lewis Frozen dynamics stifle Arab israeli relations the israeli government has rotated fulfilling the improbable 1984 agreement to Trade political Power in midterm. But nothing much has changed liked s Yitzhak Shamir now prime minister and labor s Shimon Peres now foreign minister ostensibly disagree on All the main issues. Bui they have settled Down to what amounts to q standstill and no one expects fireworks or even real initiatives any longer. Some israelis even say the National Unity government May go on indefinitely beyond the 1988 elections be cause people Are fed up with the usual abrasive partisan politics and Don t want to face big questions anyway. As writer Amos Elon Points out the one thing on which the two leaders say they agree is electoral Reform which would permit the emergence of Strong government without Reli Ance on the Small religious parties. But there in t a sign of  it. There is a curious symbiosis Between the two said one official and another said despairingly there s bipartisanship now on status quo and no poli  at the foreign ministry there is still wan talk of the peace process but without any evident conviction that talks can be launched with Jordan s King Hussein and Egypt s president Mubarak that might Lead to real negotiations. So change comes creeping quietly piling up pressures that will explode some other Lime on somebody else s watch. The recent eruptions of violence in Jerusalem and on the West Bank Haven t really been worse than in other years. They come and go loosing spurts of hatred that then subsides beneath the surface Perm it Ling a renewed illusion of the Calm and general order. Jerusalem looks better than Ever with Fine new buildings and charming new Parks. As its indefatigable warm hearted mayor Teddy Kollek says i be done Well with stones and Trees. But then his smile fades and he feels compelled to add "1 wish i could say the same about  the cily is almost As segregated As when it was divided by an armed Frontier and a barbed wire no Man s land. You can t easily see where the Border was but people know and Don t generally mix. Antagonism Between the two societies living under the Power of the jewish stale is deepening and hardening. "1 have a hidden map in my mind of where i can go and where 1 can t go with my children said Yehudah Litany 43, grieving for the dream which brought his Grandfather from Eastern Europe at the age of 19 to help found a Liberal jewish stale he writes for the Jerusalem Post about the relations Between arabs and jews which he finds perfunctory not always hostile but without Promise for the Hopes of either one on the horizon. He has been to Cyprus to the Basque country to Northern Ireland to see How other people Cope with harsh division. He came Home to recognize what he called the Belfast ligation of his own country. As in Belfast the violence is for revenge the reinforcement of each extreme by the other not with any thought of jelling people into change. Meron bin Venisti the superbly Well informed scholar of Wesl Bank affairs who is brushed aside Here As a Prophet of doom because he dares to look Al what he teams has concluded that the very idea of trading peace for territory has been overtaken. So there is nothing left for israelis and palestinians to negotiate All that Hussein could negotiate in his View is some kind of interim agreement that would keep instability on the West Bank from spilling Over and destabilizing his kingdom of Jordan. But such talks Aren t Likely to materialize because the King won t and can t engage them by himself and no representative pales Tinian leadership exists or can emerge to support him. Even the question of further israeli settlements on the West Bank in t much of an Issue any More. Eighty five percent of the settlers live in towns and Benvenisti says 45 percent arc  Middle class suburbanites who commute to israeli cities and live totally within the israeli system. A few More or less does t change the Frozen dynamics. The map May change a bit but the communal division is taut and Ever More Complex. The three leaders two who switched jobs in what had been anticipated As a watershed and Yitzhak Rabin who remained defense minister Are essentially holding on marking Lime trying to Patch the daily Wear and tear. The View to the future which was once what Israel was All about has dimmed and shortened. Most people looking to the moment find that acceptable. Each Day goes by As it goes. For the israelis there is no catalysing vision nor catalysing fear. For the palestinians there is mounting frustration. Things could be worse and probably will be because they Aren t gelling any belter. To naw Yolk i"0� old israeli he verb people who live in should it throw