And so while the focus has now shifted from Citizen Kim to a visa smuggling ring, politically, there's still a great deal of focus on Cayo Northeast Representative, Elvin Penner. He remains in Guatemala and some say he could return as early as Sunday.
He still hasn't said if he will resign, or if he will stick around to fight an Opposition-led recall without the cover of a mass party. But, as we reported last night, he has good reason to stick around as long as he can because of the money apportioned to an area representative. The news tonight, is that we've had to revise our estimates, since new information says the salary we put up of fifty two thousand dollars a year is for a minister of state, which Penner is not anymore. The true salary for an area representative without portfolio is $3,229 dollars monthly or $38,750 dollars per year.
In addition to that, a representative gets 6,300 monthly for their constituency, 2,300 of it for office rental and utility bills for the office, three thousand for the community vote and one thousand for a sports vote. As we reported, the constituency money does not have to be accounted for, and some representatives do not have an office, opting instead to use the funds as discretionary spending in their community. The monthly total then in government cheese is 9,529 dollars - leading to an annual total of 114,348 dollars - not the 136 thousand dollars we reported last night.
If Penner doesn't resign and if a recall were to fail, he could foreseeably collect that figure for the remainder of the term of the government.
