Group raising questions after S.C. House staffers receive raises

COLUMBIA — A conservative think tank is raising questions after S.C. House staffers received raises of between 5 percent and 31 percent.

The pay bumps went into effect in October 2011 but were first reported last month by The Nerve, the reporting arm of the S.C. Policy Council.

The increases had escaped public scrutiny because the state’s legislative and executive branches customarily do not announce the awarding of raises.

Ashley Landess, the Policy Council’s executive director, took issue with the pay bumps, asking why the House has to pay “high” salaries to employees who work for a part-time Legislature.

“It’s not appropriate,” she said. “The question is whether or not these employees are necessary in the first place? What do these employees do? Why do we pay so many of them high salaries?”

For the past four years, most state workers have received the 3 percent pay increases that went into effect in July.

The House salary increases preceded that across-the-board pay bump, which House staffers also received.

GOP House Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston approved the earlier raises.

Greg Foster, a spokesman for Harrell, said although the General Assembly meets for six months most years, lawmakers and their staffs work year round on legislative matters and with state agencies and constituents on a number of different issues.

“Just because the regular six month session ends in June, that doesn’t mean that work on future and ongoing legislative issues, work with state agencies and work serving the concerns and issues of over 4.6 million statewide constituents ends,” he said.

By way of example, Foster added, “The economic development package that resulted in Boeing’s decision to come to South Carolina was done during the off-session, a major job creation success that the Policy Council has strongly opposed.”

The Policy Council is against the use of special tax incentives to lure companies to South Carolina.

Foster said House staffers have taken on additional duties in recent years due to unfilled vacancies that resulted from a December 2008 hiring freeze for all but the most critical positions.

And, he added, all House staffers were forced to take 10 days of leave without pay between January and July 2009.

Foster received a 22 percent raise, the second-largest of any House staffer, bringing his salary to $85,000, excluding the additional 3 percent raises that went into effect this summer.

The Post and Courier has reported Foster also has earned additional compensation from a political action committee run in part by Harrell.

Andy Fiffick, chief counsel for the Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee, gained the largest raise at 31 percent.

Fiffick’s salary after the increase was $85,100.

House Clerk Charles Reid, the highest-paid chamber staffer with a $159,414 salary, received a 10 percent pay bump.

All told, 45 House employees now making at least $50,000 received raises, according to salary data provided by the chamber in response to an S.C. Freedom of Information Act request by the newspaper.

At least 20 of those employees received salary increases of 10 percent or more.

The raise amounts to several employees are not known because their previous salaries were below $50,000 and listed in ranges.

The Nerve has reported that at least 14 Senate staffers received raises ranging from mostly 3 percent to 14 percent, for the same time period. Senate Clerk Jeffrey Gossett, the Senate’s highest-paid staffer, received a 3 percent raise to bring his salary to $152,966, according to records obtained by the think tank.

The newspaper reported last month that four officials in Gov. Nikki Haley’s office received raises last fiscal year of between $5,000 and $12,000.

The raises came despite an overall decrease in the Haley administration’s salary total.

Reach Stephen Largen at 864-641-8172 and follow him on Twitter @stephenlargen.