A column by Phil Kabler of The Charleston Gazette
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It had to be shock for Truman Chafin last November when he lost the state Senate seat he had held for 30 consecutive years to used car dealer Mark Maynard, a Republican who essentially ran an unfunded campaign.
However, the Mingo County Democrat got a nice parting gift for his legislative service, cashing in four years’ worth of legislative per-diem expenses for a cool $34,060.
Chafin turned in 66 days for 2011, 68 days for 2012, 63 days for 2013, and 63 days for 2014. At $131 a day, those 260 days added up to a nice little check (or two checks, actually, one for $17,554 and one for $16,506).
Meanwhile, Chafin’s successor, Sen. Maynard, received a total of $8,867 for the 2015 session for per-diem payments and mileage reimbursement.
Overall this session, legislators received a total of $1.05 million in per-diem payments, mileage, and a limited amount of miscellaneous expenses…