Guilt by Association? Pines Attorney Sam Goren Takes Pay Cut Too

A mysterious illness has infected the highly paid, privately contracted top administrators at the City of Pembroke Pines, causing them to become suddenly squeamish about their paychecks. First, City Manager Charlie Dodge volunteered to slice $20,000 off his company's annual salary of $755,000. Then, Wednesday night, moments before the City...

By Lisa Rab

September 25, 2009

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A mysterious illness has infected the highly paid, privately contracted top administrators at the City of Pembroke Pines, causing them to become suddenly squeamish about their paychecks.

First, City Manager Charlie Dodge volunteered to slice $20,000 off his company's annual salary of $755,000. Then, Wednesday night, moments before the City Commission took its final vote on the budget, another pay cut was announced. Sam Goren, an outside lawyer who serves as city attorney for Pembroke Pines, volunteered to sacrifice $20,000 too. What a coincidence!

Dodge has endured plenty of heat lately for collecting a paycheck that rivals President Obama's while his cash-strapped suburb of 150,000 residents raises taxes and lays off more than 80 workers.

But Goren's office was budgeted to collect even more than Dodge: $910,000 a year. Hmmm. Is it possible the good attorney was worried about catching a whiff of Dodge's bad P.R.?

Since Goren wasn't at the meeting -- he sent one of his law partners to make the announcement -- and couldn't be reached for comment Thursday, we may never know the answer.

But it sure is refreshing to see our public officials being so altruistic, isn't it?

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