Published: August 23, 2007 09:44 pm            

Double dipping measure approved

The Alabama Board of Education voted Thursday to enact a policy forcing legislators currently employed in the state’s two-year colleges to choose between elected office or their positions in education.

The policy, presented to the board by Gov. Bob Riley and two-year college chancellor Bradley Byrne, will affect 13 legislators including State Rep. Neal Morrison (D-Cullman).

Morrison, who is in his 18th year as an employee with Wallace State Community College, said he will do what is in the best interest of his district, even if that means leaving the two-year system.

“If they stay the course with banning legislators from serving [in the two-year system], when election time gets close I'll have to make a choice,” he said. “If I’m forced to make that decision, obviously I've been here and spent my whole life in the two-year system and I'm going to continue helping out because I believe in it. If it was not for two-year colleges I believe the state would not be seeing the economic growth that’s been going on. My heart is and will always be in two-year system.”

The board also approved a revised proposal to allow legislators who currently serve in two-year colleges to use their personal vacation time or take leave to finish out their terms in office. This time will compensate for the 100 days each legislator must spend away from his or her job in legislative session.

Morrison said he has no problem using his vacation time and personal leave time to serve in the legislature until the 2010 election.

“If they are allowing us to use annual leave or vacation time, I'll be fine because I've got so much time from my years at Wallace,” he said. “I just hate that this has come to this point, I’ve always strived to make sure I separate both jobs.”

Previously Riley and Byrne have both lobbied for the approval of the policy as a means of preventing bias in legislature and to keep politicians from receiving pay from two state entities. However, Morrison said the policy should be expanded to cover all professions which stand to gain from legislative decisions and not just be aimed at educators.

“I’ve always been against limiting anyone’s ability to run for office,” he said. “If you can do your job and it’s not jeopardizing someone else, I think you ought to be able to run of those positions. That doesn’t mean you should be getting paid two salaries but most of us never did do that.”

Morrison is one of four legislators to have held jobs in the two-year college system prior to entering office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

        

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