Budget spat costs $514,430 Most lawmakers accept extra pay for ’04 session

AUGUSTA – Checks totaling $514,430 will go out this month to more than 70 percent of Maine lawmakers who participated in last year’s emergency session precipitated by a partisan dispute over a supplemental budget.

Nearly all the Republicans, more than half the Democrats, two of the three unenrolled members and the Legislature’s lone Green Independent lawmaker accepted the checks, which averaged $3,775 each before taxes.

The special, or emergency, session was necessitated by majority Democrats who accelerated the timetable for passing a supplemental budget in order to avoid compromises with minority Republicans.

Ironically, many Democrats wound up taking the money after earlier rejecting Republican claims that a special session couldn’t be convened without giving lawmakers additional pay. David Boulter, executive director of the Legislative Council, said Wednesday that 131 of 181 eligible legislators had decided to accept the checks, which will be mailed out June 22.

Twenty lawmakers passed on the extra pay by implication when they allowed Tuesday’s deadline to pass without communicating their positions on the issue to Boulter. But 32 predominantly Democratic legislators chose to refuse the cash. For state Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais, it was a $3,410 decision.

“I decided not to take it because I never expected to be paid for it anyway,” Perry said. “But everyone’s decision is personal and we all have reasons for doing the things we do. I don’t know of anyone who’s doing it for selfish reasons.”

Last year the Legislative Council – the governing board for the Maine House and Senate – reserved $900,000 in a special fund from the Legislature’s operational budget to cover the expense of special session pay. The money that would have gone to those who refused it will remain in the current operational budget.

In March, a Kennebec County Superior Court justice ruled in favor of a handful of lawmakers, including Republicans, one Democrat and one unenrolled legislator, who took leaders of the Democratic majority to court over the pay issue. The legislators maintained that, by law, they were entitled to an additional $100 a day when called into special or emergency session by the governor.

The dispute leading to the court case arose from a decision by majority Democrats to push a majority supplemental budget bill through the Legislature last year. By adjourning early, the Democrats were able to allow the bill to become law before the end of the fiscal year on June 30 without having to get two-thirds support. The Legislature then was called into special session by the governor to complete its work.

Although lawmakers are entitled to additional pay during a special session, majority Democrats voted to change the law and subsequently waived the additional pay requirement. The decision was overturned by the court, which subsequently concluded the law passed by majority Democrats affecting extra-session pay could stand prospectively but not for the session in which it was enacted.

Several Democratic leaders had warned their members against accepting the additional pay, fearing it could be used against them in future elections. But former GOP state Sen. Tom Sawyer of Bangor maintained throughout the court case that many Democrats favored the additional pay. Sawyer actually bankrolled most of the legal costs that allowed the court case to move forward. He plans to send his check to a Bangor charity and said his financial investment in the legal argument was well worth the lesson in democracy it provided for Democrats.

“I guess some of the [Democrats] weren’t really prepared to ‘fall on their swords’ when real cash was at stake,” he said. “My own purpose in all this was to underscore that all our actions have consequences. When the tyranny of the majority [from Alex DeTocqueville’s “Democracy in America”] is consumed with doing whatever it takes to have their way and runs afoul of the Constitution, a $500,000 penalty from their own accounts seems most appropriate.”

But House Democratic leader Glenn Cummings of Portland indicated the consequences weren’t all that clear cut. He said many members were getting mixed messages from their accountants over the tax liability from the payment that will count as income for tax year 2005.

“There’s been some ambiguity over the tax responsibilities and because of that ambiguity, some believe there is a potential that additional taxes may have to be paid even if they refuse the money,” he said. “So each individual had a reason for why they did it and I have to respect that.”

The two largest checks were cut to Assistant House Democratic leader Bob Duplessie of Westbrook, at $4,955, and assistant Senate Democratic leader Kenneth Gagnon of Waterville, at $4,830.

Many of the lawmakers plan to contribute to charities, their school departments or municipal governments. In some cases, Republican legislators are donating their checks to Don’t Mortgage ME, the people’s veto effort under way to overturn the $450 million borrowing component in the state budget.

Gagnon plans to do none of those things.

“I’m giving it to my wife,” he said. “She’s my favorite constituent.”