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Stop legislative double dipping

August 5, 2007

By Bradley Byrne

"No one can serve two masters." Matthew 6:24.

On May 24, when the State Board of Education approved my contract to be chancellor for Alabama’s two-year college system, I immediately left that meeting, walked across the street and onto the floor of the Alabama State Senate, and submitted my resignation from that body.

I realized that I had to choose between the two offices because I could not serve both at once and be truly faithful to my duties in each. I also knew that I had no "right" to hold either.

Last week I unveiled four major policy recommendations for the state board to consider, one of which would end the practice of "double dipping" by elected officials who work for the two-year college system. Some of my former legislative colleagues who so generously complimented me on May 24 and the teachers’ union immediately criticized these policies and myself for being partisan and for violating the "right" of elected officials to hold two state jobs at once. Both of these accusations, which I recognize are par for the course in the rancid political environment of the Legislature, are patently untrue.

Let me be clear about whose rights concern me the most, and it is not the "rights" of politicians. As chancellor of the Alabama College System, my primary concern is for the rights of our students, our employees, and the taxpayers of Alabama. Every decision I make must be considered in light of the duties I owe them.

This is particularly true in light of the scandals which have plagued our system recently and in light of the fact that at least some of these scandals have involved employees who are also legislators.

To the students, I owe a quality education delivered by administrators and instructors who are dedicated and regularly present throughout the academic year, as well as a politically neutral environment in which to learn.

To the employees, I owe a fair and equal opportunity for employment and advancement based on performance, not politics, as well as a workplace free of political pressures.

And to the taxpayers, I owe the finest community colleges and training programs their money can buy, operated with exacting efficiency by well-qualified leaders.

The practice of double dipping seriously undercuts all of these rights in favor of letting elected officials have their cake and eat it, too. That is why the federal government has outlawed the practice through the Hatch Act since 1939. Most other states, including our neighbors Mississippi and Georgia, also prohibit elected officials from holding down public employment during their terms of office.

What I have proposed to the state Board of Education is not novel or unusual. Indeed, current policy in Alabama is the rare exception to the norm.

The critics of the policies I have proposed basically make two arguments in defense of this system of patronage. First, they assert that somehow legislators have an absolute right to work in the Alabama College System, even though their legislative service requires regular and repeated absences from work.

Along the same lines, they argue that as "career educators" they are being unfairly barred from holding public office. (This despite the fact that the vast majority of double dippers are neither teachers nor had a "career" in the two-year college system prior to their election.)

In answer to this first line of argument, the opportunity to work for the people of Alabama in the two-year college system is a privilege, not a right. Along with this privilege comes a responsibility not to engage in politics to the detriment of our community colleges.

Our proposed policy no more burdens the rights of educators than the federal policy burdens the rights of federal employees, who are prohibited not only from holding public office, but from campaigning for it. Our policy doesn’t even go that far, as long as campaigning is done on personal time.

In any event, nothing about our proposal prevents educators from serving in the Legislature. As the Florida Supreme Court explained in upholding a similar policy in that state, "The rule prohibits no one from teaching. Neither does it prohibit a teacher from (holding) public office. It merely provides that he cannot do both simultaneously."

Secondly, critics argue that the proposed policy goes too far because they say existing policies could be strengthened to ensure that legislator-employees are actually doing their jobs. This argument misses the point.

The fact that some well-meaning legislators employed in the system dutifully attempt to fulfill their job requirements does not resolve the problem of double dipping. They are still earning two taxpayer-funded salaries when it is physically impossible to be in two places working for two different entities at the same time.

Neither does ensuring job performance remedy all the other inherent pressures and conflicts that arise when a powerful politician is also a public employee. The perception and in some cases the reality remains that elected officials working in our two-year colleges enjoy special deference over other employees. This perception has eroded public confidence and impugned the integrity of the entire two-year college system.

The time has come to free the Alabama College System from the chains of politics. We can be the pioneers of reform in state government instead of the poster children for its ills.

Despite the cries of the critics, the policy I have proposed, like the federal restrictions, is not aimed at any particular party, group or point of view but applies equally to all. By freeing our beloved system from the invidious practice of double dipping, we will unleash our true potential and gain the world-class reputation we deserve.

Bradley Byrne is chancellor of the Alabama College System.