INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A key aide to Donald Trump’s vice presidential nominee, Gov. Mike Pence, continues to earn $23,000 a month as Indiana’s sole Washington lobbyist even as he has taken a paid position with the Republican presidential campaign and regularly travels with Pence to political rallies across the country during working hours.
The dual, simultaneous employment of Joshua Pitcock is unusual. Legal and ethics experts contacted by The Associated Press said the government lobbyist should be subject to the same ethics rules as rank-and-file state employees, which generally prohibit such double-dipping. A separate prohibition against moonlighting bans Indiana state employees from accepting outside employment or undertaking activities that are not compatible with their public duties, would impair their independence or judgment, or pose a likely conflict of interest.
The governor’s office said Pitcock is exempt from most such rules because the Pence administration treats Pitcock as an independent contractor. It considers his contract for “professional services” different than contracts for “personal” services, which treat contractors as employees.
Pence defended the arrangement late Wednesday.
“The arrangement that the state of Indiana has with a firm in Washington, D.C., has been a great, great success for our state,” he told television station KDVR in Denver in an interview. “That individual and his team have worked very effectively advocating Indiana’s interest. But It’s an individual firm, an individual contractor.”