Lawsuit Filed Over Legislative Reimbursements

My column for the Arkansas News Bureau on Sunday took a look at legislative pay and expense reimbursements.  I made the point that legislators make an extremely low salary of $15,869 — well below the per capita income level in Arkansas of $33,150.  At the same time, I pointed out that legislators compensate for this with a very generous legislative reimbursement system, many times higher than their salaries.  My solution is get rid of the dishonest legislative reimbursement system and pay legislators something closer to the average Arkansas salary level.

To my surprise, the next day I read that the Public Law Center – an outfit Arkansas Times blogger-in-chief Max Brantley is a part of – has filed a lawsuit challenging the reimbursements. From Brantley…

The lawsuit names one Republican, Rep. Ann Clemmer, and one Democrat, Sen. Jerry Taylor, for the nearly universal legislative practice of submitting unitemized monthly expense claims, often in the name of personal "consulting businesses." As most legislators will admit, many rely on these payments as pay supplements that they say make public service affordable.

My question here is if this is a "nearly universal legislative practice," how did they decide upon these 2 out of 135 legislators?

"The suit named a representative and a senator and a Democrat and a Republican whose expense filings fit the pattern," explained Brantley. "We expect a successful lawsuit will apply to all legislators. Naming all as defendants would have increased discovery and pre-trial costs exponentially."

I would note that the Democrat is Sen. Taylor, a term-limited legislator who is arguably the most conservative Democrat in the state (he has a "Repeal ObamaCare" sticker displayed prominently on his Facebook page.)  Rep. Clemmer, on the other hand, is one of rising leaders within the Republican Party and is up for re-election in 2012 and probably heading for higher office.

Michael V. Lauro Jr., president of the Public Law Center, said in a press release that "the purpose of the lawsuit was not to deprive legislators of income, but to require the state to obey the Constitution and pay them straightforwardly. Legislators may and probably do deserve to be paid more for the work and for the sacrifices many of them make in their private businesses to serve, but it should be done transparently, by making the annual cost-of-living adjustments in their official salaries, seeking higher salary authorizations through a constitutional amendment or actually documenting their legitimate expenses. Legislators have sometimes foregone the annual cost-of-living adjustments with claims that they were being frugal with the taxpayers’ money while quietly drawing fatter expense checks."

Don’t get me wrong, the system is dishonest and legislators can certainly do as Sen. David Johnson has done and opt to not participate. But it is not an Ann Clemmer problem. It is a problem with the entire pay and reimbursement structure.  It is so institutionalized that the system is basically taught at orientation.

It needs to change. For this reason, I hope this lawsuit is not the selective application for political purpose.