Republican legislators upset over state pay plan

Governor Vilsack rejects complaints from G-O-P legislators who say they just found out about some expensive benefits and a new pay grade for state workers. The pay package for state workers has been in effect for most of the year, but Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows says he didn’t know some of the details until recently. Iverson says the items he recently discovered could add a total of 23-million dollars to the state payroll.Iverson and other G-0-P legislators are threatening to withhold millions of dollars in negotiated pay and benefits for state workers. Joe Shannahan, a spokesman for Governor Vilsack, says the Senators’ complaints are puzzling since the Senate voted 50 to zero this past spring to approve the pay package.Shannahan says if Senators withhold pay and benefits for state workers, there could be layoffs which would endanger the safety of Iowans.