INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The wife of a likely Senate candidate averages a 26.5-hour work week in her $240,000-a-year job doing legal consulting for an Indianapolis suburb, according to timesheets reviewed by The Associated Press.
Unlike many government contract attorneys who are paid by the hour or project, Jennifer Messer receives the same $20,000 monthly check from Fishers regardless of how much she works. Since signing the contract in early 2015, Messer logged a full 40-hour week just once, working about 50 hours between March 28 and April 3, 2016.
Legal experts say the part-time arrangement, which Messer primarily does from home in suburban Washington, doesn’t appear to break any rules. But it could create problems for her husband, Republican Rep. Luke Messer, who was elected in 2012 on a pledge to “stop the reckless spending” and is preparing to challenge Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly next year.
Mark GiaQuinta, a prominent Indiana tax litigator who has extensive experience with municipal issues, said it’s difficult to know if Fishers taxpayers are getting a good deal. He says the city should ask an outside party to review Messer’s work and release it publicly.
“I think most lawyers you talk to would find it unusual. How many individuals would hire a lawyer in a different state and pay them on a $20,000-a-month retainer?” said GiaQuinta, a one-time Fort Wayne Democratic city council member and long-serving president of the city’s school district board. “The more prominent the political connection, the more transparent the arrangement needs to be and the more you need to justify it by a periodic independent audit.”