State reminds lawmakers: Don’t use campaign funds to cover living expenses

NASHVILLE — The Registry of Election Finance is set to send a memo to state lawmakers informing them the only funds they should use for living expenses during their time in Nashville is their legislative per diems.

The board will recommend lawmakers adopt a stance that prevents using campaign funds to cover portions of living expenses, such as meal and hotel stays, that exceed their daily state-funded allowance, even at campaign events.

Any excess not covered by the per diems should be picked up by the lawmakers themselves, the board concluded.

“I guess I’m just having a hard time getting over this philosophical concept of they set what their per diem is and that’s what they should be able to live off while they are up here,” registry secretary Tom Lawless said.

Lawmakers receive an annual salary of $22,667, except the House and Senate speakers, who earn $68,001. They also can receive $1,000 a month to cover expenses in their home districts. In addition, those who live more than 50 miles from Nashville are eligible for a $220 per diem, while those who live within 50 miles receive $59 a day.

“They are not up here to go to Morton’s or Kayne Prime,” he said, referring to two Nashville steakhouses where Lawless said meal prices can exceed $100. “They set the per diem. I can’t help it I live in an expensive city.”

The latest campaign finance reports indicate four lawmakers spent about $1,400 for food at Morton’s Steakhouse on days during the 2017 legislative session.

Registry director Drew Rawlins said Wednesday lawmakers asked him to weigh in on per diems after questions arose about double dipping following the audit of former lawmaker Jeremy Durham.

A registry auditor highlighted examples of possible illegal double dipping by Durham and showed the Franklin Republican may have broken campaign finance law 690 times. Auditors said Durham couldn’t document whether more than $7,000 in campaign funds he used to pay for expenses that may have been covered by per diems were legitimate.

Rather than fining Durham, the registry opted to encourage lawmakers to do more to address any potential abuse.

In June, House Speaker Beth Harwell, R-Nashville, and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, sent a letter to the registry asking members to outline what is legal when it comes to per diems and campaign spending in an effort to eliminate any confusion.

Rawlins said that after considering a broad survey of legislators’ spending, he believed the issue was of a relatively small concern, but the board should issue an opinion.

“I think we’ve bandied about that question here and there, but we’ve never gone deep into the issue other than the Durham audit, obviously because it was so pervasive,” Rawlins said. “I will say looking at candidate reports, and [the state auditor] may tell me, but his was by far the worst that I have seen. You don’t see just numerous meals on most candidate reports, just one after another.”

An analysis by the USA Today Network - Tennessee found, like Durham, 55 lawmakers spent thousands of dollars in campaign donations in 2016 on items they may have already used taxpayer money to cover.

Reporters Dave Boucher and Joel Ebert contributed to this report.