Colorado State Senator John Morse was recently the subject in the Colorado Accountability Project’s latest article.  They discovered that Sen. Morse is collecting money at a rate far higher than any of his colleagues, including both Senate and House leadership members. Morse requested per diem reimbursment, $99 per day, nearly 100 days more than then Speaker Terrance Carrol.

CAP’s report had this to say:

“Most members of leadership only submit for time they spend at the capitol or days when they attend meetings as a representative of the state.

Morse claimed a full 120 days during the legislative session then claimed an additional 211 days, or nearly $21,000, after the end of the session. The majority of those days were labeled as ‘constituent work’ on the reimbursement request; such ‘constituent work’ was not supported by Sen. Morse’s calendars. In fact, days where reimbursements were requested the calendar entries reflected haircuts, dentist appointments and packing and moving.

Recently, Sen. Morse ran an amendment to cut $25,000 from the Attorney General‟s budget. During debate of the same bill, he chastised Secretary of State Scott Gessler for his claims that he could not live on a salary of $68,500. Morse went on to say that Gessler “needed to tighten his belt the way ordinary Coloradans have.”

Sen. Morse has been quick to criticize others while collecting state money at a rate superior to his fellow members of leadership. In fact, Morse requested reimbursement at a rate of 28% greater than then-Speaker of the House Terrance Carroll, 31% greater than President of the Senate Brandon Shaffer and 44% and 68% greater than Republican leadership.”