The news reports that House Speaker Tim Moore and other legislators are paying themselves for room and board in Raleigh have hints of the scandals that plagued Democrats in the first decade of the 21st century. And the response of the Republicans blaming the press is similar to that of the Democratic leaders who cried foul. However, scrutiny comes with the territory and GOP leaders should get used to it. Cross your “t”s, dot your “i”s, and quit whining.
Republicans should be wary about attacking the press for looking into the financial activities of their leaders. Casting all the media as partisan hacks might work with their base, but it’s not going to work with most people. The same outlets they are attacking now took down powerful Democratic politician less than a decade ago. Slamming the press is likely to invite more scrutiny, not less.
Also, what’s legal isn’t necessarily politically acceptable. Moore and others are accused of putting expenses on their credit cards without itemizing them and paying themselves rent for real estate they own. They probably haven’t done anything illegal but they may have left the appearance that they’re using campaign funds for personal gain. The State Board of Elections will determine whether any laws were broken but the public will decide whether or not they should pay a political price.
However, these episodes bring up a bigger issue. Legislators need to be paid more money. Serving in the General Assembly shouldn’t be a financial hardship. The Speaker of the House of the ninth largest state in the nation, regardless of his/her political stripe, shouldn’t be worrying about making a living. He or she shouldn’t have to be concerned about affording rent in Raleigh. We’re not Rhode Island where the whole state lives within an hour of Providence. Moore’s home is three hours away from his job in the legislature. Higher pay would encourage more people to run for office and allow legislators to serve without losing money.
The GOP needs to get over the scrutiny. The press is just doing its job. Somebody needs to be scouring campaign finance reports and keeping legislators honest. If they start with the party in power, that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Legislators, for their part, should keep in mind the public perception of their actions, not just the legal implications. Finally, we could reduce the reduce the risk of graft if we just paid legislators enough money to come to Raleigh without needing to subsidize their service from their personal bank accounts.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
Who cares if the current slate of legislators “deserve” better pay? The real question is, if you pay legislators more (regardless of whether or not they “deserve” it), will that change who runs for office over the long run? Or how they behave once they’re in office? And if so, will the benefits to the state more than offset the cost of paying them more?
I suspect the answer is yes. Right now, only the wealthy and people with fake jobs can afford to serve. So it shouldn’t be surprising that we have a cruel joke for a General Assembly.
You get what you pay for.
We aren’t going to pay them anything more. They are worthless, kind of like that dog food -you can buy the most expensive, but we don’t like them. When they learn the tax payers are the boss, and not out of state political PACS. And frankly, they are not worth a raise.
Um, no thank you. Part-time legislators make enough trouble, full time legislators just get more entrenched and like our federal legislators, will camp out in the Capitol full-time and never come home until re-election time. Next thing you know, they’ll use their full time jobs to extend their terms from two years to four years so they don’t have to come home nearly so often, thereby becoming even more out of touch with their districts. Serving in Raleigh need not be such a financial burden, just reduce the annual session(s) to two, maybe three weeks maximum to take care of only the most pressing legislation, then send them back home to their real jobs. Creating a permanent politician class is not the answer.