By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 27, 1998; Page B1

RICHMOND, June 26 – Virginia Attorney General Mark L. Earley is reviewing whether state lawmakers illegally gave themselves what amounted to hefty raises last winter when they raised their office budgets by $6,000 apiece and doubled their daily expense allowance to $200.

Critics say that because office budgets and daily expense payments are treated as income for lawmakers and are used in figuring their state pensions, increases in such payments should be treated as raises. Under the state constitution, any pay raises passed by legislators cannot take effect until after the following election; critics contend that because the budget increases approved last winter were designed to take effect this year, they violate the constitution.

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and all 140 of them meet every year in the General Assembly," Paul Goldman, a former state Democratic Party chairman, and Alex McMurtrie, a former GOP House delegate, said in a Richmond newspaper column today. "These Santas give themselves gifts, and then ask you and your children to pay for them."

Virginia's lawmakers are essentially part-time state employees. The 100 members of the House of Delegates are paid $17,400 annually; state senators get $18,000. But with the increases passed last winter, lawmakers also get $15,000 to operate their offices, and $200 for expenses each day they work when the legislature is not in session.

Lawmakers pocket what they don't spend of those allowances – and don't have to account for what they do spend – meaning that the recent increases will add 20 percent or more to a typical member's total compensation.

Several lawmakers today defended the budget increases approved during the last session, saying that the additional money is needed to improve constituent services and better compensate members who make financial sacrifices to serve.

And some blasted Goldman and McMurtrie, saying that their concern about lawmakers' pay was a ploy to generate publicity for the pair's radio talk show here.

"Huff-and-puff breast-beating," said Del. Barnie K. Day (D-Patrick), who voted against the increases last session but questioned the motives of Goldman and McMurtrie.

But questions about the budget increases have gotten the attention of Attorney General Earley, who in deciding to examine the legality of the legislature's moves has injected himself into a potentially sticky political situation.

Earley, a Republican and former state senator, is positioning himself for a run for governor in 2001, and has been cultivating support among lawmakers.

"The issue is one that the attorney general is taking very seriously," Earley spokesman David Botkins said today. "I think it's certainly fair to say it's a sticky wicket ... but [Earley] is committed to doing the right and proper thing."

Botkins said that Earley likely will rule quickly, as the legislative budget increases are scheduled to take effect Wednesday.

Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R), who approved the legislative increases as part of the state's $40 billion, two-year budget plan, wasn't eager to jump into the debate over the General Assembly's compensation.

"I certainly rely on the judgment of the attorney general on the matter," Gilmore said. "On the question of the policy, whether it was the right thing, the people are going to decide that" in the 1999 elections, the governor added with a smile.

Del. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath), a lawyer who opposed the increase in legislative compensation, said it "made my blood boil," adding that it "feeds the ... negative perception of all things government" while making the legislature friendlier to full-time politicians.

"There's no question [daily expense money] is pay," Deeds said. "It's absolutely unconstitutional. The office expense is also unconstitutional."

"Raising [the daily expense allowance] before the next election probably is not right," said House Republican Leader S. Vance Wilkins Jr., who runs a road-paving company in Amherst. "It seems to be salary."

But Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax) said members should not be shy about supporting higher compensation.

"I guess, theoretically, it could be called salary, but it's really support for doing constituent work," Callahan said. The $200 daily expense allowance, he said, "is really compensation for taking a day off whatever you do. ... Lawyers get $200 an hour."