For a decision that more than doubled elected officials’ baseline pay, taxpayers deserved a forthright conversation — not a line item buried in the budget estimates (which, we note, do not clearly show the raise either). Moreover, as Ms. Webster’s report makes plain, HOA members’ pay originally was not supposed to be part of the public-service review in the first place. Only after PwC had begun its work did the Deputy Governor’s Office instruct the consultants to include legislators’ salaries, the auditor found. HOA members now insist they are committed to “transparency” and “due process.” If that is truly the case, they should lead by example. It also means reforming the budgeting process for HOA members’ salaries from the ground up.