Legislative 'Easy Money' Still Thriving at State Capitol
Lawmakers continue to collect generous travel mileage payments from the state, far exceeding their actual transit costs.
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It cost the state $4,000 to get the members of the house to Olympia and back home. In the senate, with half the members, it cost $2,000 more. The mileage of the members of the legislature to Olympia and back to their homes is paid by the state at the rate of 10 cents a mile each way, despite the fact that the actual cost is never over four cents. This is one of the old-time bits of 'easy money' that clings and no one seems anxious to have it removed. When the house committee made its report, it gave Representative Morris of Thurston county 20 miles, which amounts to $2, overlooking the fact that Mr. Morris had to get back home. Mr. Morris didn't overlook it for more than one brief moment, and promptly secured his additional $2. E. L. Farnsworth of Lincoln and Henry Spedden of Stevens, draw the big money, $105 and $106.
“This is one of the old-time bits of 'easy money' that clings and no one seems anxious to have it removed.”
Public skepticism regarding government expense accounts and travel reimbursements remains a potent force in Washington state politics, echoing this early 20th-century frustration with legislative 'easy money.'
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