It’s been almost a month since Gov. Bobby Jindal vetoed a controversial pay raise for state legislators, and the reverberations of what state senators and representatives tried to do are still being felt all over the state.

One of the consequences of the Legislature’s attempt to give themselves a 123 percent raise is the number of recall petitions circulating in the state. Angry voters want to throw the rascals out.

Rep. John Schroder of Covington is the latest politician to face the recall petition. A Mandeville couple Roy and Nicole St. Paul filed the paperwork earlier this week and now face the challenge of collecting 11,208 signatures within 180 days in order to call a recall election. To be fair, Schroder did sign an affidavit after the vote refusing to accept the extra money. That generous gesture was overshadowed by his statements right after the vote, and in a statement released by his office shortly after the recall petition was announced.

He told constituents he voted for the raise not for his own benefit, but to attract quality legislators. Noble sentiments, but does this mean that the quality of legislators in the past 100 years has been of low quality because of the low pay? Has all the good that has been done in the Legislature moot because of a salary that did not match the private sector?

In the statement released this week, Schroder said, “I believe that when the entire story is told, voters will see that the Legislature accomplished many positive things during the past six months.”

Amazingly, Legislature did all these positive things without a raise. Go figure.

What Rep. Schroder and the other legislators who voted for the raise do not understand is the meaning of the phrase, “public service.” We admit that being a lawmaker can be a thankless, hard job, but the people who run for office do it because they want to do some good for their constituency, not to make lots of money. That is what public service is all about. If you don’t like the salary, don’t run for office.

Finally, we must ask Rep. Schroder and the other legislators one question: If they truly believed that they represented the voters, why did they vote for the raise, even though a majority of voters were totally opposed to the legislation? Good legislators are good representatives, and listen to their constituents, and they vote, not their own feelings, but the wishes of the people that elected them. If the legislators really want a raise, they must first prove it by showing their bosses — the voters — they can really do the job of representation. We hope Rep. Schroder understands that message.