Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell<\/a> has covered Florida politics for decades, and he says the math of who can actually afford that arrangement tells a revealing story about who ends up in Tallahassee.<\/p>\n\u201cYou have to take off 15 weeks of work. And I don\u2019t know many normal people who can take off 15 weeks of work. So we have a lot of abnormal people running our state in Tallahassee. Most are independently wealthy,\u201d said Maxwell.<\/p>\n
Maxwell says the low salary isn\u2019t just a quirk, it\u2019s a filter. \u201cThere are those \u2014 and I would consider myself among them \u2014 who say we are getting what we pay for in the state of Florida with super low salaries for legislators.\u201d<\/p>\n
At $29,697 per year, it would take a Florida lawmaker more than 5,000 years to accumulate the same net worth as the legislature\u2019s wealthiest member, Rep. Kevin Steele of Broward County, whose 2024 disclosure lists a net worth of $152,674,559.<\/p>\n
What about the wealthy lawmakers themselves? Why take a $29,000 job when you\u2019re worth $20 million or $50 million? Maxwell says the calculation isn\u2019t always about the paycheck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of people who look at it as a short-term loss to make a long-term gain. Some of these guys go on to become lobbyists afterwards. A lot of them get appointed very lucrative jobs running universities. Right now, virtually every public university in the state is run by a former lawmaker who was making $29,000 for a few years \u2014 and now making $2 million as a university president.\u201d <\/p>\n
On the other hand, News 6 also found seven lawmakers who report a negative net worth. This means their debt outweighs assets. <\/p>\n
The data is sourced from the Florida Commission on Ethics\u2019 2024 Form 6 disclosure cycle. Search for your lawmaker below.<\/p>\n
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