More Thievery From the Delaware General Assembly–At Your Expense
Lest anyone still doubt that the Delaware General Assembly is THE Poster Child for the Delaware Way, Chad Livengood’s article in today’s News-Journal should disabuse you of that notion. The base annual salary for Delaware legislators is $42,750. That figure is a lie, a lie perpetrated by the Delaware General Assembly members themselves:
What it doesn’t show is an extra $7,334 mislabeled as “expenses,” money they can spend any way they want without any scrutiny. Added up, the part-timers really take home a minimum salary of $50,084 before taxes. Among those whose salaries are spelled out in the budget — the governor, judges and Cabinet secretaries — only legislators have this misleading category of income.
Although the extra money is labeled “expenses,” the IRS says it’s taxable income, period. When combined with additional pay for committee work and leadership posts, the hidden income inflates the compensation used to calculate pensions for the average legislator by nearly 30 percent, a News Journal investigation has found.
So, before we proceed any further, the News-Journal has already established that the members of the Delaware General Assembly are lying to you about what they get paid, and don’t want you to know that they’re drawing a pension based on a hidden and inflated figure. This does not happen by accident. The most corrupt members of the General Assembly created this windfall, and, up until now, members of the General Assembly have gone along with it. I have no doubt that Nancy Cook, former Joint Finance co-chair for life, was at the root of concocting this scheme. This is Nancy at her most typical:
Elected in 2002, (State Senator Karen) Peterson recalls the first legislative paycheck she received in 2003. “I was surprised when I got my first pay stub and there was this second entry that said ‘expenses,’ but I had never turned anything in,” she said. Peterson said former Sen. Nancy Cook told her everyone gets the expense money and not to worry about accounting for any expenses related to the job, Peterson said.
Cook, who was voted out of office in 2010, declined to be interviewed.
However, now that it’s been uncovered, for my ‘pardon the expression’, money, every legislator is equally guilty until proven innocent since they all benefit from it. It is time to eliminate these blatant abuses of the pension system. No excuses, no rationalizations. And none of this grandfathering themselves crap like they did on the ‘Super-COLA’.
You may recall that former Rep. Roger Roy tried to cite some ‘constitutional’ reason why they had to grandfather back in 1997. Wellll…:
The $7,334 expense allowance appears to conflict with the constitution because legislators get additional compensation of 40 cents per mile for commuting to Dover. The constitution plainly says lawmakers “shall receive an annual salary and an annual expense allowance for transportation and such other necessary and proper purposes as the General Assembly shall by law provide.”
Funny how legislators cite the Constitution when trying to justify institutional greed but pointedly ignore it when it might prove inconvenient to accruing yet more unearned dollars.
Here are other ways that legislators pad their paychecks: A 40-cent mileage reimbursement that all legislators get; compensation for ‘serving’ in leadership; and additional compensation for ‘serving’ on certain committees, even if you don’t show up. Who can forget the nonfeasance of Blowhard Bloviator Colin Bonini?
The News-Journal has performed a public service with its recent ongoing coverage of the unethical activities going on in Legislative Hall. Had the News-Journal reporters and other press done their jobs back around, say, 1997, much of this would have been revealed then. It has been going on for a long time. While the Nancy Cooks, Roger Roys, Uncle Thurms and Terry Spences are gone, there are plenty of elected connivers still around who seek to enrich themselves at the public’s expense.
I call on anyone and everyone, regardless of political or ideological affiliation, to make every legislator accountable for their behavior come 2012. Either they work to reform the system, or they get called out.
2012 is an election year. I think we should make it the year that the Delaware Way crumbles for good.
Tags: Delaware General Assembly; Sen. Nancy Cook; legislative pensions; the Delaware Way;, El Somnambulo; Steve Tanzer
good luck with that.
Who cares.
Hold it a second. This is reinforcing a right wing frame about government. Obviously payroll accounted for as “expenses” should be done away with, but where is the Chad Livengood story about CRI’s funding?
Government is a soft target. Impress me Chad – go after the real crooks.
The legislators I know attend community meetings, attend coummunity functions on Saturday and Sundays and evenings away from home. They are not part time employees. Name another state employee that does this on a weekly basis.
State Legislator positions are basically executive functions that said legislators volunteer for. They can always walk away if it is a burden. No legislator in this state has community functions or meetings much more than an hour (if that) from their home. As for other state employees? I’ve seen Deputy AGs at community meetings in the evening, away from their office. I’ve also seen employees from Delaware Housing Authority, DNREC, Heritage Commission, Historic Preservation, DelDOT at community meetings after hours. Have also seen DelDOT and ABC folks at hearings after hours.
That said — mileage to and from your place of business is highly unusual, unlike mileage from your place of business to offsite events and meetings. As are expenses you don’t have to document. And I’d bet money that the State folks I see at meetings or presentations afterhours have to document their claims for mileage and/or expenses.
When I got a job with a statewide elected official I knew that during session I would be at Legislative Hall (more than 130 miles RT from my home). Since that was part of my job description, and I knew it going in, there was never any discussion of mileage reimbursement and I was totally fine with it.
And I think the one I’m most irritated with is the one who got reimbursed for his 2.7 mile trip to work. Really?? Could you not just suck it up?
“The legislators I know attend community meetings, attend coummunity functions on Saturday and Sundays and evenings away from home. They are not part time employees.”
They don’t have to do it if they don’t want to. Nor do they need to put themselves forward for the job if they don’t want to do this. And, as a matter of fact, many of them do their legislative jobs while holding a full-time job. Nobody I know with a real job has the time to do the “part-time” job of legislator. If it should be a full-time job, fine with me — it would eliminate the DeLuca/Blevins trick of getting a “full-time” job that requires little work. Don’t try to justify hiding pay as “expenses.”
Here’s all you need to know: If they wanted to be honest, they wouldn’t have hidden the nature of these payments.
“Name another state employee that does this on a weekly basis.”
Sure. As soon as you name another state job that pays $50K per year for a part-time job.
I’m with Geezer on what he suggested. The state legislators should be full-time employees. I think they should make 6 figure incomes or close to it. That means they can have no other employment in either the private or public sectors. No expense income except for job-related out-of-state travel. They can keep their current legislative calendar (although w/ less days off). I’m feeling generous: they can have the month of July off. But starting in August through mid December, they do committee work. I’m talking about committee work that involves real oversight so that there are no more surprises like the scandalous DE prison healthcare system and the patient abuse and neglect at the DE psych hospital.
I agree that some state employees are attending meetings occassionally. But they are not away from home 4 or 5 nights a week. And when they do they usually drive state owned cars? Just ask John Kowalko or Dave Sokola how hard they work. They earn thier 50k a year!
Anon with a period: The legislators you ‘know’ attend soft-core lingerie parties sponsored by Chris Tigani and Maxim.
You know it and I know it.
The legislators YOU know are public embarrassments. You know it and I know it.
‘Who cares?’ Anyone with an ethical and moral compass. Which admittedly doesn’t include you.
The comments over at the News Journal are funny. All the people yelling about how they dont know any other part time jobs that offer pensions. Imagine how mad they’d be to find out about all the other state employees who are part time and pension eligible?
Hey El, youre funny! And boring. I thought this was supposed to big a huge story?
But they are not away from home 4 or 5 nights a week.
Neither are state legislators except for specific times during the year. And really — if it is a burden, then give it up and let someone who can be committed to the job without the stealth compensation do it. No doubt some of the legislators are earning more than every penny. But you can probably count those on one hand. Again, if other state employees need to account for expenses, there is no reason why legislators can’t do it, either.
And this business about the Delaware State legislature being a full-time body makes no sense whatsoever. When they are in session, they are recessed for 25, 30% of the time to let committees work. I’ll remind everyone that the State of Maryland gets their legislative session done in 90 days. It is a bigger state, larger budget, more issues and it is done in 90 days. Taking on the expense of a full time legislature when there isn’t enough for that legislature to do now is a waste of money.
“Neither are state legislators except for specific times during the year”
Really? Do you think they only work on session days? They meet with groups, HOAs, local fire companies, and individual constituents on a daily basis. Is committee work not real work? How about the dozens of calls on weekends? Maryland has 90 session days, Delaware typically has 45.
Maryland- bigger state, larger budget, more issues also has 126 more legislators than Delaware.
Youre getting a bargain at 50k a year.
The $7K should be listed as part of their slary, no doubt. But seriously, a good legislator does more than just show up when he is required. Legislators have to be accessible all the time, phone calls, meeting, drop-bys.
Being a legislator is just called a “part-time” job but it has full time implications.
Really. And there are some who aren’t working on their session days.
Seriously, anon.legislator — this is meant to be public service, not a way to enrich yourself. Or — how is it that you can require state employees to take salary reductions, job eliminations, pension adjustments (not in their favor, for certain), reductions in supplies and materials and then claim that it is somehow OK for legislators to boost their own pensions AND their salaries with expenses slush funds they never have to account for?
The Delaware General Assembly meets about 51 days every year, 3 days a week for 17 weeks, Tuesday through Thursday. They rarely go into session before 2 pm and are generally out by 6 or 6:30, except during the final week of session. You can rarely find a legislator in the Hall before 11 at the earliest. Many get there just before the gavel goes down. After all, many of them have ‘full-time’ jobs, several of them paid for by the same taxpayers who ante up for their legislative salaries.
And if they have any legislative responsibilities over and above the minimum, they get paid generously for that service as well.
They get paid 40 cents a mile to get to their legislative job, they earn over $50 K a year, they lie about that to the public, they get generous pensions, often piled onto other state pensions.
While it is certainly true that most, but not all, legislators attend meetings and answer calls, legislators have staff who also attend meetings and answer calls on their behalf. Staff has to field calls and e-mails, usually from legislators, at any time of the day and any day of the week, including weekends. Staff that does not get mileage and does not get hidden $$’s for their modest pensions. Nor do they get OT. Which is fine, it’s part of the job, just like the seemingly arduous legislative task of answering calls on the weekend. You would think that people who choose public service would WANT to help on the weekends, but apparently it’s only if they get paid to pick up the phone.
Over the years, what was supposed to be a citizen legislature has turned into an expensive gold-plated sinecure for less-than-distinguished operators who proclaim and practice self-entitlement at the taxpayers’ expense. Oh, and try to hide it from them. They use public office to enrich themselves at the expense of those they are sworn to serve.
Now that the rock is being overturned, their defense seems to be, “What’s the big deal?”
The big deal is that they’ve been stealing taxpayers’ money in order to receive exorbitant unpublicized remuneration and bloated pensions, and that they’ve been lying about it.
If everyone’s fine with that, then I might as well quit blogging.
So they get $50,000 a year plus three or four grand for serving on committees. Now that’s out in the OPEN. The problem is all the thievery and draconian additions to the criminal code that they allow behind the CLOSED doors. And they’ve been doing it for years.
Not fine with it, El Som.
But I also agree with Jason that the News Journal had ought to send some investigative juices toward the CRI and up end that financial rock. The editors actually use CRI frequently as a source for their Fact Check pages…. so it isn’t likely that anyone over there is employing a healthy skepticism over CRI’s screeds.
What difference does it make where CRI’s funding comes from? The problem, per Nancy, is that the newspaper apparently trusts CRI’s information. I wouldn’t, no matter who pays the bills.
For those from the newspaper who are not yet familiar with CRI, here’s some reading for you, you know, to provide context. Seriously, Chad and the others who have done such an outstanding job recently, you need to know just what CRI is all about:
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/07/27/caesar-rodney-institute-an-honest-broker-we-report-you-decide/
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/07/28/cri-an-honest-broker-part-2/
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/07/30/cri-an-honest-broker-part-3/
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/07/29/charrrr-lie-come-out-come-out-wherever-you-are/
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/07/31/bulos-desperate-offer-to-copeland-will-unmask-for-transparency/
“Being a legislator is just called a “part-time” job but it has full time implications.”
No, it doesn’t. Many if not most legislators actually have second jobs — first jobs, actually, as serving in the legislature is supposedly the second job. Anybody serving in a management capacity in the private sector is too busy to take a second job — 60-hour workweeks are standard, as is a certain amount of travel.
Meanwhile, a $50,000 salary means these part-time General Assembly jobs pay close to the median Delaware HOUSEHOLD income of $54,374.
“But…but…but…phone calls!”
Good luck leading the charge to get pension reform and pay cuts for legislators.
And if you were in management, you would know just how time consuming phone calls can be.
If you think the public will have sympathy for that position, good luck yourself.
I’ve been in management. That’s my point. Taking phone calls isn’t the same thing as actual work.