Double-dipping legislators
The Oregonian has a story today about legislators who use campaign money to cover their mileage expenses - even though the state provides a $91/day payment for expenses. A bill to ban the practice passed the House and died in the Senate in 2005.
According to the O, the biggest recipient in the House is Speaker Karen Minnis ($5211) and the biggest receipient in the Senate is Senator Ginny Burdick ($6048), who is now challenging City Commissioner Erik Sten.
Without the ban, double-dipping continues to be allowed by a loophole: Lawmakers are prohibited from converting campaign contributions to personal use, but they are allowed to use that money for "expenses incurred in connection with the recipient's duties as a holder of public office."State law also is fuzzy about what per diem covers. It says only that per diem is "an allowance for expenses not otherwise provided for."
Regarding Minnis:
In the latest campaign reports filed in September, Minnis' campaign reported reimbursing her $1,100 during the session for gas purchases, plus $4,276 on Aug. 14 for "mileage less fuel." ... She also said she followed the state Elections Division's guidance on paying for office-related expenses with campaign money. "Donna and I have worked very hard to make sure that we're living within the bounds of what the law is, and we're not out there trying to cull expenses or having a slush fund somewhere," Minnis said.
Regarding Burdick:
Burdick took a different tack by having her campaign pay for her gas on top of her mileage. ... When asked why she didn't consider payment for both gas and mileage to be getting double compensation, Burdick said she was following what she was told by the state Elections Division."To my best understanding, it was legal," she said. ...
But [Fred Neal, campaign finance manager for the Elections Division],said he was not asked about Burdick's campaign paying for both mileage and gas. That practice, he said, is double compensation. "That's not kosher," Neal said. ...
Neal said the same thing about Burdick's campaign paying her $459 six-month car insurance premium on May 29. Burdick said her campaign paid for her insurance because "it was my understanding you could take all your car expenses." ...
"I did not intend to do anything that was not allowable," Burdick said. "If I made a mistake, then I'll correct it."
Discuss.
Feb. 17, 2006
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connect with blueoregon
Feb 17, '06
How do you even consider your insurance to be a legit legislative expense? Does Burdick do not personal driving ever? And she and the Bush mega-donors who want to protect big money elections wonder why we want real campaign finance reform!
I hope Sten beats her so badly she does not run for re-election to the senate in 2008. This is pitiful.
Feb 17, '06
well the part of the insurance that gets spent on work related driving is a legit expense
of course thats what the mileage reimbursement is for
ginny burdick is getting paid triple for her gas and double for her insurance
naughty naughty
9:59 a.m.
Feb 17, '06
I do not like any of this behaviour by any of our legislators because at its very best, even if legal, it is not the right thing to do.
Having said this, we as citizens put our legislators in the position of trying to cut corners because they are not paid a living wage. We think that the city should pay a living wage to hot dog vendors at the ball park, but we won't do it for our legislators. We have made it impossible for anyone who is trying to support a family to be a legislator, unless they are independently wealthy, retired, supported by a union, or have a spouse who supports them. This is not right and we should not be surprised when individuals seek the loopholes in the system. Having said that, if people can not survive on the wages, they should resign and let someone else fill their position or be upfront and vote to change the salaries.
10:02 a.m.
Feb 17, '06
While Burdick's expensing teeters on the line of proper ethics, I find much more damning the point that Carla raises here:
It's one thing to rapaciously squeeze every last dollar from your campaign to re-line your own pockets, and excuse yourself by noting that it's technically legal (although the types of expenses Burdick declared seem to violate the spirit). It's quite another to claim an interest in preventing the activity altogether...and then do exactly what you supposedly wanted banned. Imagine if Russ Feingold sponsored a bill to ban lobbyist paid travel--and then let the CEO of Leinenkugel beer fly him to Oktoberfest.
But hey--at least Ginny's not "taking money from taxpayers" in general; just those who thought they were helping her to get elected. Caveat votor!
Feb 17, '06
http://www.leg.state.or.us/pcol/ is the URL of the Public Comm. on the Legislature.
They are discussing some interesting ideas on pay for legislators.
Contact them with your thoughts.
Feb 17, '06
Well, this says volumes about how carefully Ginny is willing to dive into the detail when it comes to other people's money, doesn't it? It's kind of like Sten saying, "They told me the tram was only going to be $15.5 million! Don't blame me if I didn't exercise any common sense or if the project seemed politically advantageous at the time!"
10:33 a.m.
Feb 17, '06
Yet another tempest in a teapot on the front page while Rome burns in the background--or whatever set of hopelessly mixed metaphors you would prefer.
We pay our legislators squat and they try to sqeeze out every dollar legally available. Now there's breaking news. New slogan: If it's been going on for [50/100/148] years you'll find it in the Oregonian--'cause that's the kind of stuff we love to read.
Can't fund schools but don't worry, we soon won't have any in the poor parts of town anyway so that should help. City budgets go up every year (even against inflation) while services go down. The huger their profits the more likely it is that a business is whining about taxes and/or trying to torpedo voter owned elections.
Oh yeah a few hundred bucks of Ginny Burdick's campaign money used on gas is a sign of moral bankruptcy for sure.
11:43 a.m.
Feb 17, '06
Just can't underline enough the disparity between Burdick asking for state money to fund her campaigns, her double-dipping into state funds to pay her expenses, and her saying Voter Owned Elections are a bad idea. I guess her hypocrisy knows no bounds. Hopefully, it won't kill a good idea.
Feb 17, '06
It seems to me that a much more telling facet of this tempest is that the reform legislation failed. Please provide a link to the roll call and voting status of our reps on this one. Thanks
Feb 17, '06
Good idea geno. If someone would give us the bill number, anyone could look it up on the legislative website.
Feb 17, '06
Doretta, all the more reason why Burdick deserves to be skewered for this. She's just pushing the envelope of several thousand dollars. Imagine if there was real tempatation there (like being aligned with OHSU's PR company). Why would anybody at a State Legislature level and salary even contemplate trying to play the grey areas for a few bucks. It's supposed to be public service, right? If there is one common denominator for career politicians like Sten and Burdick it is that they can get out of an elected career what they don't have the qualifications to accomplish in private industry.
1:37 p.m.
Feb 17, '06
The Portland Tribune recently wrote, "Ginny Burdick is one of the most liberal Democrats serving in the Senate." The next bit in the Trib was a "how dare she run against Sten?" Her voting record has been consistently worker friendly, pro-gun control, and pro-choice. Sten needs to be challenged by a good Liberal Dem who has the big picture of state needs. Maybe Ginny realizes Portland isn't the center of the universe and will help Portland provide better schools because she knows how the entire state funds education. Maybe Ginny will help Portland reign in it's wasteful spending and piss poor fiscal management of the city. Our dear Kari wrote a naughty little piece about Senator Burdick being taken over by pod-people. Perhaps it is Sten who has been taken over by the Tram people. My old neighborhood on SW Gibbs..well don't get me started.
Feb 17, '06
"To my best understanding, it was legal," she said. ...
Ginny Burdick, expert in crisis communication at Gard & Gerber. Funny stuff.
Feb 17, '06
It's fine for the Oregonian to spend all this time digging into legislative/campaign spending records. It would be nice if they also had an editorial recommneding that legislative pay be raised to something like $3,000/month, which might help solve this problem. Why run for the legislature when you can make as much money delivering pizza without the stress?
Feb 17, '06
I'm a fan of neither legislator, but really, with the low level of pay, just how big a scandal is legal double-dipping?
I'm with Grant on this. Let's stop expecting legislators to volunteer their time.
2:28 p.m.
Feb 17, '06
Tom, as I said I think it's less an issue of "scandal," and more one of hypocrisy. Burdick has made a point of trying to appear as a sound custodian of "taxpayer funds," and I think that concern should apply just as aptly to campaign contributors as to all other taxpayers. Minnis was one of the authors of a bill to prevent exactly what she is taking advantage of now.
I agree the legislature needs more pay to encourage full-time attention. But anyone who thinks that will cause legislators not to seek whatever money is available to them--living wage or no--is being a little naive.
Feb 17, '06
Surprisingly to me, Minnis sponsored the bill to enact the reforms and it passed the Republican controlled house.....only to fail in the Democratic controlled senate. Accusing her of hypocricy for following the rules that our fellow Dems demanded stay in place is the real hypocricy.
3:08 p.m.
Feb 17, '06
Yes, you made the same comment at LoadedO, Charlie. I don't necessarily agree with killing the bill (although I'd need to read it closely to decide whether it was worth passing as written), but if Senate Democrats voted to keep the current system, they are only acting based on that vote--ie, to be able to double dip legally.
Minnis, on the other hand, voted NOT to keep the current system--but is acting COUNTER to her vote--that is, to do what she voted not to allow.
To be a hypocrite is to say one thing and do another. On what alternate grammar planet is Minnis not guilty of textbook hypocrisy?
Feb 17, '06
it's "legal" and "allowable" to take every penny in the mini-mart take-a-penny, too. it's legal and allowable to scowl at strangers. it's actually "legal" to cheat on tests, i think, and certainly allowable so long as no one notices.
Feb 18, '06
Sorry Joe....No matter how you want to paint it, this time we Dems look like the hypocrits. Since the reform bill coming out of the house had bi-partisan sponsorship and the votes of ALL Democratic house members, it's beyond me why Kate Brown chose to kill this bill over the objections of her fellow Dems in the house.
1:34 a.m.
Feb 18, '06
It's not legal to take double reimbursement for expenses and not declare half the money as income on your tax returns. Ask the NBA referees who lost their jobs for doing just that. Did these upstanding Oregon civic leaders do the right thing on their 1040s, and more interestingly, on their 40s? Maybe they'll show us! (Sure...)
10:55 a.m.
Feb 20, '06
Under Portland's Voter Owned Election system - which Senator Burdick opposes - candidates who opt in are strictly prohibited from using funds for personal use. In addition, any money leftover after the campaign is returned to the city, not used for further expenses.