State Sen. Benoit appointed a Riverside County supervisor

A day after state Sen. John Benoit (R-Palm Desert) voted to approve Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's controversial $11-billion water bond proposal, the governor announced Wednesday that he was appointing the legislator to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

Benoit was elected to the state Senate last year after six years in the state Assembly. The District IV seat of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors is vacant because of the death in August of Supervisor Roy Wilson.

Schwarzenegger plans to call a special election to fill Benoit’s Senate seat but has not yet set a date.

Members of the Board of Supervisors are paid $143,000 a year, although some have voluntarily taken a 10% pay cut because of the county’s budget problems. The base salary for state legislators is $116,208, although Benoit had voluntarily taken a 5% reduction.

--Patrick McGreevy in Sacramento