Greg Stumbo Grants House Members Extra Pay Days. That's One Way Of Getting Those Votes He Needed To Become Speaker, I Guess.
Stumbo policy gives members chance for more pay
By Tom Loftus
FRANKFORT, Ky. — After his election as House speaker in January, Greg Stumbo made an unannounced policy change that has proven popular with House members but costly to taxpayers.
As the state struggled with budget cuts, Stumbo decided to allow lawmakers to be paid for up to two extra days of work at the Capitol each month during the periods between legislative sessions — even if they did not have committee meetings those days.
As a result, House members were paid more than $100,000 in salary and expenses for the new work days during the first five months the policy was in effect, according to a Courier-Journal review of legislative pay records obtained through Kentucky’s open-records act.
“They're being called ‘Stumbo Days,’ ” said Rep. Jim Wayne, a Louisville Democrat and one of the few House members who has claimed none of extra days.
The previous policy had been that lawmakers who aren’t members of leadership could be paid their $186.73-per-day salary plus expenses only on days when they had an interim committee meeting or another approved legislative event.
That more restrictive policy still applies to senators.
Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, defended his policy change, saying it enables House members to better represent their constituents.
“We're allowing them to come up here to do their office work,” he said in an interview. “I am a firm believer, if we're going to continue to have a citizen legislature, we have to give them the tools to operate with.”
Asked how much the policy would cost, Stumbo said, “We don't know yet; we're going to look at the end of the year. ... But I don't consider that to be a waste of money if they are up here doing their legislative business, and it makes them better legislators and it helps them be true citizen legislators.”
The new policy is a minor addition to a state General Fund budget of more than $8 billion. But since taking office in December 2007, Gov. Steve Beshear has been forced to cut the state budget five times — for a total of more than $700 million.
For the fiscal year that began July 1, Beshear proposed a plan that included $6.2 million in cuts to the legislature's $55.5 million budget. That, he said, was proportional to cuts taken by most state agencies.
Lawmakers, however, decided to cut their budget by less than half that amount — about $2.6 million.
Several House members praised Stumbo’s new policy, saying it allows them to be fairly compensated for trips to Frankfort that, in the past, they’ve had to pay for themselves.
“Greg let everyone have two days if you have anything you need to come up to Frankfort for. Now you can come up and do it, no matter what it is,” said Rep. Dwight Butler, R-Harned.. “A lot of times you've got school groups and meetings with constituents, anything. This lets you get compensated for it.”
Rep. Melvin Henley, D-Murray, said, the new policy helps him because in the past he has had to make the four-hour trip to Frankfort at his own expense.
“It's very useful to me,” he said. “I appreciate getting reimbursed for it now.”
The new policy has proven highly popular with House Democrats and Republicans alike. Records of the Legislative Research Commission show that 78 of the 92 House members who aren’t in leadership positions have been paid for at least one day so far.
Consider Rep. Jim Stewart, a Flat Lick Republican who has taken full advantage of the new policy.
Records show that Stewart was paid for 13 work days between late March, when the regular session ended, and the end of July. Four of those were to attend meetings and nine fell under Stumbo’s new policy. Stewart was paid $1,651.04 in salary plus $1,680.57 in expenses for those nine days.
Stewart could not be reached for comment Wednesday at either his home or his legislative office in Frankfort.
Jim Waters, director of policy and communications for the fiscally conservative Bluegrass Institute of Bowling Green, said the policy is a case of the public sector being less accountable than a well-run private business.
“The fact that this policy was never widely announced indicates that the (House) leadership knows the policy would not be well-received by taxpayers,” Waters said.
But Stumbo said, “Nobody makes money serving in the General Assembly. If anybody believes it's a parttime job they are mistaken. It's a fulltime job with parttime pay. One thing I'm going to try to do as speaker is help them so that they can be citizen legislators and can continue to maintain their duties in Frankfort and their home lives.”
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said the Senate is sticking to past policy of allowing interim pay for scheduled legislative meetings and other pre-approved “appropriate” events.
Williams said Stumbo had the authority to make the policy change, “but I just chose not to do that.”
Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136.
By Tom Loftus
FRANKFORT, Ky. — After his election as House speaker in January, Greg Stumbo made an unannounced policy change that has proven popular with House members but costly to taxpayers.
As the state struggled with budget cuts, Stumbo decided to allow lawmakers to be paid for up to two extra days of work at the Capitol each month during the periods between legislative sessions — even if they did not have committee meetings those days.
As a result, House members were paid more than $100,000 in salary and expenses for the new work days during the first five months the policy was in effect, according to a Courier-Journal review of legislative pay records obtained through Kentucky’s open-records act.
“They're being called ‘Stumbo Days,’ ” said Rep. Jim Wayne, a Louisville Democrat and one of the few House members who has claimed none of extra days.
The previous policy had been that lawmakers who aren’t members of leadership could be paid their $186.73-per-day salary plus expenses only on days when they had an interim committee meeting or another approved legislative event.
That more restrictive policy still applies to senators.
Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, defended his policy change, saying it enables House members to better represent their constituents.
“We're allowing them to come up here to do their office work,” he said in an interview. “I am a firm believer, if we're going to continue to have a citizen legislature, we have to give them the tools to operate with.”
Asked how much the policy would cost, Stumbo said, “We don't know yet; we're going to look at the end of the year. ... But I don't consider that to be a waste of money if they are up here doing their legislative business, and it makes them better legislators and it helps them be true citizen legislators.”
The new policy is a minor addition to a state General Fund budget of more than $8 billion. But since taking office in December 2007, Gov. Steve Beshear has been forced to cut the state budget five times — for a total of more than $700 million.
For the fiscal year that began July 1, Beshear proposed a plan that included $6.2 million in cuts to the legislature's $55.5 million budget. That, he said, was proportional to cuts taken by most state agencies.
Lawmakers, however, decided to cut their budget by less than half that amount — about $2.6 million.
Several House members praised Stumbo’s new policy, saying it allows them to be fairly compensated for trips to Frankfort that, in the past, they’ve had to pay for themselves.
“Greg let everyone have two days if you have anything you need to come up to Frankfort for. Now you can come up and do it, no matter what it is,” said Rep. Dwight Butler, R-Harned.. “A lot of times you've got school groups and meetings with constituents, anything. This lets you get compensated for it.”
Rep. Melvin Henley, D-Murray, said, the new policy helps him because in the past he has had to make the four-hour trip to Frankfort at his own expense.
“It's very useful to me,” he said. “I appreciate getting reimbursed for it now.”
The new policy has proven highly popular with House Democrats and Republicans alike. Records of the Legislative Research Commission show that 78 of the 92 House members who aren’t in leadership positions have been paid for at least one day so far.
Consider Rep. Jim Stewart, a Flat Lick Republican who has taken full advantage of the new policy.
Records show that Stewart was paid for 13 work days between late March, when the regular session ended, and the end of July. Four of those were to attend meetings and nine fell under Stumbo’s new policy. Stewart was paid $1,651.04 in salary plus $1,680.57 in expenses for those nine days.
Stewart could not be reached for comment Wednesday at either his home or his legislative office in Frankfort.
Jim Waters, director of policy and communications for the fiscally conservative Bluegrass Institute of Bowling Green, said the policy is a case of the public sector being less accountable than a well-run private business.
“The fact that this policy was never widely announced indicates that the (House) leadership knows the policy would not be well-received by taxpayers,” Waters said.
But Stumbo said, “Nobody makes money serving in the General Assembly. If anybody believes it's a parttime job they are mistaken. It's a fulltime job with parttime pay. One thing I'm going to try to do as speaker is help them so that they can be citizen legislators and can continue to maintain their duties in Frankfort and their home lives.”
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said the Senate is sticking to past policy of allowing interim pay for scheduled legislative meetings and other pre-approved “appropriate” events.
Williams said Stumbo had the authority to make the policy change, “but I just chose not to do that.”
Reporter Tom Loftus can be reached at (502) 875-5136.
Labels: Keeping them honest, Kentucky politics
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