One quarter of the 140 members of the Alabama Legislature elected since 2002 have financial ties to the state’s troubled system of two-year colleges, The Birmingham News reported. Those included 28 legislators who were on community-college payrolls; six who had a wife or sibling on a college payroll; two who had businesses that received work from one or more of the colleges; and one legislator whose business and wife were paid, the newspaper said, citing system payroll records, vendor payment records, and other documents.

The article alleged no wrongdoing in those payments, but noted that most of the jobs or contracts had gone to legislators after they were elected. Lawmakers, who receive just over $30,000 a year in part-time salary and expenses from the Legislature, defended the payments, noting that they need to earn a living.

The college system has been dogged for months by accusations of nepotism among top officials, questionable spending practices, and outright fraud. The controversy led the Alabama State Board of Education to fire the system’s chancellor in July (The Chronicle, July 13).