According to a report from the Washington Post, Roy Moore, the Republican senatorial candidate from Alabama, collected a yearly salary of $180,000 from the Foundation for Moral Law. The reports also shows that the charity failed to disclose the full compensation arrangement in its tax filings. It’s a bad story for Moore, whose judiciousness was already in question.

The Foundation for Moral Law is a tax-exempt public charity with which Moore became affiliated after being ousted from the Alabama supreme court in 2003. He became president of the charity in 2007, and started working on a part-time basis, 20 hours a week. The Post explains his compensation arrangement with the charity:

Moore would be paid whatever speaking fees and donations to the charity he could generate through what was called “Project Jeremiah,” the group’s ministry to pastors and preachers. But he was guaranteed $180,000 a year under the agreement, with the charity making up the difference if Project Jeremiah revenue fell short. If the charity did not have the cash in a given year, the debt to Moore would accumulate.



His salary was never reported on: Salaries tend not to be. But the charity did not fully disclose his compensation in filings to the IRS. In 2007, the report shows, the Foundation for Moral Law listed Moore as an independent contractor who performed legal work. One year, the foundation listed his compensation as $55,392. All the while, he was making $180,000, either in the form of cash or accruing debt. It would be unfair to fault Moore for the charity’s failure to disclose — but for the irksome fact that he was its president.

Sure, Moore generated revenue for the charity and did some work on its behalf, certainly enough to earn a wage. But the size of his salary, along with its secrecy, suggests the bounty was more of a gift. And Moore hasn’t done much to earn himself the benefit of the doubt.