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Pros, cons of limiting legislators' other jobs

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published April 14, 2006

There's a perception that the Legislature is dominated by rich lawyers. But that's only half true.

A lot of legislators are rich, but most are not lawyers. They are architects, citrus growers, doctors, bankers, real estate agents and public relations people. It is difficult to survive on a legislative salary of $29,916 a year.

Some lawmakers barely get by, just like their constituents. (They call them "representatives" for a reason.) They work at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg, teach high school in Tampa, or hold county government jobs in New Port Richey and Fort Lauderdale, and they take unpaid leave from those jobs when they're in Tallahassee.

Oh, by the way, the money for some of those jobs comes straight from the state budget legislators pass each spring.

To some, this is the essence of Florida's so-called citizen Legislature. To others, it's "double dipping," a blatant conflict of interest that must end.

Sen. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, has filed a bill that would bar members of the Legislature from receiving money from any business or agency that "directly or indirectly" gets state money.

"You are not going to double dip during your service in the Legislature," Posey declared last month as the bill raced through the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee he chairs. "If you're a sitting member of the Legislature, there should be no link between your income and state funding - outside of your legislative salary."

Posey's occupation? Real estate agent.

As written, Posey's bill would not take effect for 10 years, so anyone who got elected this year would not be affected. (Due to a quirk in the law, some senators serve 10 years.)

Posey's bill, SB 1754, is not new. But it has never passed, and it is pretty much dead for this year. Nobody in the House has taken it up, and many legislators oppose it.

"Where's the problem?" asks Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg. "Is Sen. So-and-so acting inappropriately? He needs to name names."

Posey is too polite to do that. But chances are, he's thinking of people like Justice, who serves on the House appropriations committee that funds state universities and works as an academic adviser at USF, a job he held before he was elected to the House.

Or Rep. David Mealor, R-Lake Mary, a provost at the University of Central Florida who also serves on the education budget panel.

Mealor says he has always viewed the state's needs as a whole, not the narrow interests of UCF where he has worked for 26 years. He argues that people with knowledge of education ought to be involved in the decisions.

"The beauty of the Legislature is that it is made up of people with different talents," Mealor says. "To rule somebody out because of a chosen profession, I don't know if that's in the Legislature's best interest."

If Posey's bill did apply to the current crop of lawmakers, the "directly or indirectly" clause would wreak havoc. Look closely, and you'll find that most people who write our laws have some financial connection to the state budget.

House Speaker Allan Bense has a contracting business that has done work for the state Transportation Department. Some lawyer-legislators do legal work for cities and school boards. A chiropractor who treats Medicaid patients could be banished. So could a retired firefighter or teacher who draws a state pension.

Is it fair to exclude those people from public service?

No, says Bense, who believes Posey's bill would banish middle class people from the Legislature.

"We've had teachers who have been members of the House forever. They could not survive on this kind of a salary, and do all the travel that's necessary," Bense said.

Posey deserves credit for raising a topic most lawmakers would rather not discuss. But it would be better if more of his colleagues had the nerve to talk openly about a pay raise, to entice more people of modest means to run for office.

Rep. Bruce Antone, D-Orlando, and Sen. Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale, have filed bills to increase the pay to $50,000 a year, but neither proposal has gotten a hearing.

Which raises a question: Do you have to be a millionaire, or rely on the benevolence of a state-funded university, to pursue a career in public service?

Steve Bousquet is at sbousquet@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.

[Last modified April 14, 2006, 22:50:04]