What are payment rules in early-voting states?

11:53 PM, Jul. 20, 2013  |  Comments
  • Filed Under


IS CAMPAIGN PAY ALLOWED?: Yes, elected officials can be paid for presidential campaign and PAC work, said Democratic state Rep. Janet Wall, who is the vice chairperson of the Legislative Ethics Committee.

REACTION: Several state lawmakers, who are paid $100 a year, and political operatives couldn't think of any public official who was paid last election cycle.

"In New Hampshire, there is a long tradition of not paying elected officials to support a campaign," said Dave Carney, a Republican consultant there.

During the 2008 cycle, former New Hampshire GOP chairman Wayne Semprini accepted pay to serve as Rudy Giuliani's state chairman. It got people buzzing - even though he was no longer chairman and was never an elected official - because he took pay for what is almost always an honorary position, Republicans said.


IS CAMPAIGN PAY ALLOWED?: Yes, elected officials can be paid for presidential campaign and PAC work, said Caren Jenkins, executive director of the Nevada Commission on Ethics.

REACTION: Several political reporters and operatives said they couldn't think of any elected officials who were on a campaign payroll in the last cycle. Jenkins said she'll be watching to see how the ethics debate plays out in Iowa. "Whatever happens in Iowa, we want to know about it in Nevada," she said.


IS CAMPAIGN PAY ALLOWED?: Yes, elected officials can be paid for presidential campaign or political action committee work. Nothing in the state ethics law bars it, said Cathy Hazelwood, an attorney with the South Carolina Ethics Commission.

REACTION: "I'm for less government in pretty much every circumstance," said state Sen. Lee Bright, who said he wasn't paid a salary or travel reimbursements for serving as chairman of Michele Bachmann's South Carolina campaign. "Every time you outlaw something, it's more government. But it would be good for people to know if a state official is being paid or volunteering for a campaign."

ETHICS REFORM: Reforms died this year in the GOP-controlled South Carolina Legislature. A bipartisan commission had recommended that lawmakers be required to reveal more about their income and end the practice of policing themselves on ethics complaints.


IS CAMPAIGN PAY ALLOWED?: A fuzzily written Iowa Senate rule may forbid senators from being paid for presidential campaign work, but interpretation varies.

However, it's clear senators can't work directly or indirectly for a PAC, or for certain other political organizations that fall under specific sections of the federal tax code. Employment with a PAC is limited for House members, too, unless it doesn't advocate for issues or a candidate "in this state," their code of ethics says.

ETHICS REFORM: A 1991 scandal triggered the last major ethics reforms in state law, Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal told the Register. What caused the uproar? A government investment fund with pooled property tax dollars had lost more than $70 million due to a crooked fund manager, and the sitting Iowa Senate president was a salesman for the investment company who had called on officials to invest money in the fund.

As senators pondered how to bat down various ethical dilemmas after the Iowa Trust scandal, they decided they wanted to stop senators from selling their endorsement to a presidential campaign, Gronstal said. The chamber crafted rules for itself that are separate from state law. "We tried to write it carefully enough so that it didn't disqualify senators from being paid to work on local races, congressional campaigns or for the state parties," Gronstal said.

Real Deals



Top Video Picks MORE VIDEO