Stengel defends pay

Littleton lawmaker's bill for off-session days totals $23,760

Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 14, 2006 at midnight

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House Minority Leader Joe Stengel billed taxpayers nearly $24,000 last year for working when the legislature was out of session.

Stengel collected a check for working 240 days out of 247 days in the off- session, according to data compiled by the Legislative Council.

The next-highest bill for the off-session was submitted by House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, who worked 145 days and collected $14,355.

Stengel said he earned every penny. "I take this job very seriously," he said Monday. "I work 24-7."

The Littleton Republican bristled at questions about the hours, which are considerably more than other leaders have submitted in the past two years.

"I'm entitled to the money," Stengel said. "If you don't like the law, change it."

The law allows the six legislators in leadership positions - three in the Senate and three in the House - to collect $99 a day in the off-session for attending to "matters pertaining to the General Assembly." Those matters can be at the Capitol or off site.

The off-session days in 2005 were Jan. 1 through Jan. 11 and every day after May 9. Stengel took off only seven days during that time, for all of the major holidays, and said he worked each of the remaining 240 days.

"The implication that I'm bilking the taxpayers is flat wrong," he said. "I give 110 percent."

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, who billed for 145 days last year, said he was "puzzled" when he saw Stengel's tally. Romanoff said he doesn't charge for days not spent at the Capitol, and he didn't charge last year for the days he was campaigning for the passage of Referendum C.

Stengel, who opposed the ballot measure, charged for those days because he said he performed leadership duties every day.

He said that most days begin at 7 a.m. and that he often is still reading legislative e-mails at 10 p.m.

All lawmakers receive $30,000 annually, plus a daily per diem when the legislature is in session from mid-January through mid-May. Lawmakers who live in Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Gilpin and Jefferson counties get $45 a day, while lawmakers from outside those nine counties get $99 a day.

In 2005, Stengel was paid his salary, $5,040 in per-diem expenses during the session and $23,760 in non-session leadership pay, for a total of $58,800.

Former lawmaker John Andrews of Centennial, who served as Senate minority leader and as Senate president, said that serving in leadership is a full-time job.

"I never saw evidence of leadership - Senate or House, Republican or Democrat - giving less than full value for the taxpayer dollar," said Andrews, a Republican.

"The ongoing work of the General Assembly doesn't cease because the session is over," he said.

As Senate president, he billed taxpayers for working 150 days in the 2004 off-session. He collected $14,850 in leadership pay.

Billing the taxpayer

Lawmakers in leadership positions are entitled to bill taxpayers $99 a day when they're working on legislative matters when the General Assembly is not in session (roughly mid-May through mid-January). The bills they submitted in 2005:

Lawmaker Days Received

House Minority Leader Joe Stengel, R-Littleton 240 $23,760

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver 145 $14,355

Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver 110 $10,890

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon 59 $5,841

House Majority Leader Alice Madden, D-Boulder 54 $5,346

Source: Legislative Council

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