Monday math lesson: a word problem from Randy Demmer's per diem

"Math class is tough," a Teen Talk Barbie once said. For ourselves, we did well in the subject, enjoying  word problems the most, in which our teachers presented us real-world opportunities to flex our growing understanding of numbers.

It's been longer than we'd care to admit since we graduated from one of Southern Minnesota's finest high schools, but we've stumbled across a math problem in Randy Demmer's per diem that summoned back those early lessons.

Last Sunday, the St. Cloud Times published Payment beyond paycheck: Legislators'™ compensation can be higher than salary, a look at:

money from the state in per diem payments and other alternate forms of compensation

beyond the $31,140 in regular salary each legislator receives. 

Using the information in the database at the St. Cloud Times, our friend Hal at Blue Man in a Red District noted earlier in How much did your "fiscal conservative" haul in? that Randy Demmer, contender for the GOP endorsement in Minnesota's First congressional district, claimed $23,627 in compensation beyond his salary.  Here's how the extra compensation breaks down, according the St. Cloud Times database:

Name	Demmer, Randy
Session per diem	$10,703.00
Interim per diem	$231.00
Special per diem	$154.00
District travel	$405.37
Lodging	$9,439.18
Mileage	$1,784.80
Other travel	$0.00
Other	$909.95
Total	$23,627.30

Here's the word problem:
A Southern Minnesota state legislator claims $10,703 in per diem payments for the 2007 legislative session.  Calculate how the Southern Minnesota state legislator claimed $10, 703 of the taxpayers' dollars.

Solution:
The per diem in the House is a maximum of $77 per day.

From the opening gavel (January 3) to the closing gavel (May 21), the 85th session of the Minnesota State House was in session for a total of 139 days (including Sundays and Holidays).

Dividing $10,703 by 139 yields $77; thus, it appears the state legislator took per diem for every single day.

He took it seven days a week--including Martin Luther King's Birthday and Easter (an entire week), official holidays in which the state legislature did not meet.

The state legislator from Southern Minnesota apparently took taxpayer-funded per diem payments on May 7 and May 8, when he was meeting with Karl Rove and Tom Cole at the NRCC candidates school in Washington, D.C.

Now, it is possible that the legislator requested a per diem for the day after the session ended, a practice that is allowed.  That still leaves one day in DC; we have a call in to the legislative controller requesting an explanation.*

Bonus question
His excused absences from the Minnesota House on those two days are a matter of House record, and the Southern Minnesota legislator didn't think his presence in the Minnesota House was crucial during those two days in May.  He told the Rochester Post Bulletin:

Demmer said that while he took a leave of absence from the state House during his trip, he said that he was not on any conference committees and that bills brought up for a vote those days were not final. "I missed two or three votes, and those bills are coming back around," he said.

During his Washington stay, Demmer joined five other participants in a meeting with reporters from the Washington Post, which ran a Sunday story on their interest in running for Congress at a time when Democrats control Capitol Hill and Bush suffers low approval ratings.

"Sometimes when things look absolutely the worse, that's the time to buy," Demmer was quoted as saying. He also described his philosophy as one that sees "government that is a framework and not an end-all."

How did the state legislator from Southern Minnesota explain the need for per diems? He told a local television station last week:

"Whether you get per diem or not doesn't effect the work that you do.  What it does effect is the ability to be there."

Even when you're not there. 

Calculate the damage to the congressional bid for a candidate who writes on his campaign web site:

Elected as a conservative Representative to the Minnesota House of Representatives, Randy Demmer has always been guided by the basic belief that people should be able to keep as much of their hard earned money as possible. Government, just like families, must remember that there is a difference between wants and needs. The government has to set priorities and make the tough choices.  And sometimes “you just have to say NO”.

Discussion
Randy Demmer chose to attend NRCC candidate school during the session; his rival for the GOP endorsement, State Senator Dick Day, waited until after the legislature had adjourned until next year.

*Last week, we called Paul Schweizer, the Minnesota House controller to whom our legislators submit their per diem requests, to see if Demmer asked not to be paid for the days he was in Washington D.C., learning how to be a federal-level candidate.  Today, he confirmed that state Representative Demmer had indeed collected $1617 for May 1 through May 21. Schweizer noted that Demmer didn't break any laws.

According to our reading and inquiries, legislators can request to be paid for the session, then many report those days when they are absent on other business. Not all claim the maximum $77 per day, nor for all 139 days, though they are within their legal rights to do so. (Hal Kimball looked at a mix of per diem payments from those who call themselves fiscal conservatives in a post this weekend. Many of Demmer's House cohorts didn't request the maximum possible).

What Randy Demmer did is legal. The ethics of claiming per diem while off at a partisan candidate training school in Washington DC--while insisting that one is a prudent steward of the tax dollar--is another debate entirely.

Update: The Blue Man in a red District comes up with an answer to the math problem.

 

Comments

[Hal]

Good work!