Why is Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton a redistributionist liberal when it comes to earnings in the private sector, but not when it comes to the salaries of his state agency commissioners? It was learned this week that Dayton used his authority to boost the pay of commissioners at the departments of Natural Resources, Human Services and Health. The raises ranged from $6,000 to $18,000, on top of six-figure salaries these commissioners are already earning.

Dayton’s response? He said this trio, like other Minnesotans, deserve compensation commensurate with their responsibilities. Boy, is that a loaded answer.

The three already make big salaries compared to most Minnesotans. And their responsibilities are fashioned by politics, namely ever-increasing government. We’re not sure citizens want to reward that. And we note that Dayton doesn’t credit CEOs or others in business who have massive responsibilities for maintaining the solvency and growth of their firms and who are well compensated for doing so. Rather, Dayton seeks to punish them for their earnings via the tax code.

In any case, Dayton’s decision has raised a huge stink in the Legislature, where Republicans called him out on it. They are pushing for agency budget cuts equal to the amounts Dayton gave those agencies’ leaders. That’s a good start. They should also revamp the compensation system.

We’d suggest a commissioner pay freeze for a few years, followed by something that perhaps allows for cost-of-living adjustments. But we’d also suggest reducing the size and scope of government so that agency heads don’t have to be paid so much for trying to do too much.