In the real world, taking money that you are not entitled to is considered stealing. In Augusta, however, accepting extra money for not doing extra work is justified by the majority of legislators. Pledging to give that money to charity, as some of them have, doesn’t make taking it acceptable.

Last year, Democratic lawmakers rushed through a supplemental budget without Republican support. If the budget had been supported by two-thirds of lawmakers it would have gone into effect immediately after the governor signed it. With only majority support, the budget would not go into effect until 90 days after the Legislature adjourned.

To get around this problem, the Legislature adjourned early, before its work was done. Immediately after adjourning, the governor called lawmakers back to the State House for a special session. Under the state constitution, special sessions can be called only under extraordinary occasions. Wanting to push through a budget without Republican support is not an extraordinary occasion.

Worse, lawmakers didn’t do any special work. They merely sifted through all the bills and other matters they didn’t get to before passing the budget and ending the regular session early. They did regular session work and got both regular session ($19,500, plus meals and mileage for two years of service) and special session pay ($100 a day) for it. This is wrong.

Sen. Peggy Rotundo, a Lewiston Democrat who did not accept the extra pay, put it succinctly: “I don’t feel that this is money that I’ve earned.”

Unfortunately, many of her colleagues believe otherwise. This month, the Legislature’s administrative office will begin sending out checks worth an average of $3,755 to the 137 lawmakers who either requested or did not refuse the payments. The office expects to pay out $514,430. Only 49 lawmakers refused the payments.

Democrats tried to avert the pay problem by passing a bill denying lawmakers special pay. Four lawmakers – two Republicans, one Democrat and an independent – challenged the bill in court. The challengers won and now, hypocritically, many Democrats are taking the extra pay.

What have Democrats learned from this? Nothing, apparently. Again this year, they rushed through a majority budget and adjourned, only to return for another “special” session. The good news this year is that there won’t be a fight over pay. However, the already passed budget has unraveled and lawmakers are now revisiting – in special session – matters supposedly settled during the regular session.

That’s sort of special, isn’t it?