One out of every four elected state legislators in Oregon has employed a family member at taxpayer expense this year, records show.

The price tag for hiring spouses, children or in-laws is more than $547,000 so far, according to state salary data.

Oregon is one of the few states in the U.S. that allows lawmakers to hire family members. The Legislature passed a bill a decade ago granting lawmakers an exception to state anti-nepotism laws.

Legislators defend the practice, noting that it has been something of a time-honored tradition to hire family members. Oregon's citizen legislators are paid about $23,000. Hiring a family member can help make it possible to put their jobs on hold during sessions. Lawmakers, who've been doing it for decades, say it benefits lawmakers and constituents alike.

"It's just the way it's been," said Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick, D-Portland, who said she employed her daughter as an aide for a year and a half.

Lawmakers interviewed for this story say that family members often make the best staffers. They are inherently trustworthy and have a solid understanding of constituent needs.

Rep. Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland. His wife, Harriet, has worked for him as a legislative aide for almost 20 years.

Consider Mitch Greenlick. When the retired Kaiser executive first ran for office in the late '90s, he picked his wife, Harriet Greenlick, as his campaign manager. No one else could have done as good a job, he said. The Portland Democrat has paid his spouse $22,486 so far this year for managing his legislative office.

"She's the best secretary I ever met. She ran my campaign office and essentially ran me," Greenlick said. "When I went into the Legislature I really needed her to manage the office."

Yet the practice of lawmakers hiring their family members as staff can be problematic. Lawmakers have a fiduciary duty to be good stewards of taxpayer funds, and spending state money on family members can hurt public trust in government, said Hana Callaghan, who runs the government ethics program at Santa Clara University.

"Nepotism raises the question of if you're hiring your relatives, is the process fair?" Callaghan said. "If you are advancing your family's interest and your personal interest are you doing that at the expense of the public?"

Still, the situation is widespread and entrenched. Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, employed his wife, Margie Courtney, as a legislative assistant for nearly 20 years -- long enough to qualify for a state pension. And Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver, has paid his wife, Josephine Whisnant, as an aide for the 14 years he's been in office. She made $27,000 during this year's five-month legislative session.

An investigation into Capitol nepotism by The Oregonian more than a decade ago found that half of lawmakers employed family as staff. While that number has fallen, nepotism is still prevalent among lawmakers, from the newly elected to career politicians.

"The issue of being able to hire family members is always going to be there," said Courtney. He fondly recalled his wife's work ethic and her popularity in the Capitol.

"I wish my wife was still [working] here. She's the greatest employee I ever had," he said. "The public -- my gosh they liked her. I had people calling me up, they wanted to talk to Margie because they heard about her. They didn't want to talk to me."

Many Capitol staffers, family members and otherwise, are also paid by lawmakers to work on their re-election campaigns. Those jobs can be lucrative. But in analyzing staff pay, The Oregonian/OregonLive chose to focus on lawmakers' official, state-side employees, since they are paid with tax dollars.

To be sure, nobody is getting rich working as a legislative aide. But family members are paid better than staff hired off the street, records show. The family members of legislators were paid an average $3,058 a month for work during the legislative session that ran February through early July. Pay for non-family members averaged $2,697 a month.

At most, a legislative aide can earn $55,227 a year, plus medical, dental and pension benefits, according to records from the Legislature's financial services office.

Lawmakers themselves don't make much: Just $23,568 a year, plus $142 a day for expenses during the session or when they are conducting official business. For comparison, Washington legislators earn $47,776 a year. In California, where the Legislature is full-time and that is expected to be lawmakers' only job, elected representatives earn $104,118.

HIRE AT WILL

Lawmakers' staffing practices are wildly unregulated. Elected officials can hire whomever they like and pay them what they like until their budget is exhausted. There's no system of timecards or other proof required to show that work was completed.

Sen. Fred Girod, R-Stayton, paid his wife, Lori, more than any other lawmaker with a family member on their staff. Girod paid his wife $38,101 for work during the legislative session.

Topping the earners list this session was Lori Girod, who's been paid $38,101 so far this year to run the office of her husband, Sen. Fred Girod, a Stayton Republican and retired dentist. She earned $49,000 last year.

At the bottom of this year's list was Melissa Knopp, wife of Bend Republican Sen. Tim Knopp. She was paid $1,833 for just one month of work, but earned $37,279 last year. This year, she served alongside her son, Daniel Knopp, who earned $13,967.

Oregon is unlike most other states and Congress when it comes to regulating nepotism. Most states and Congress bar the practice outright, according to research by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Until 2007, Oregon had no anti-nepotism law. Legislators enacted one that year amid fallout from the Lobbyist Luau scandal, where beverage industry lobbyists lavished lawmakers with a Maui vacation.

A wave of ethics reform bills followed. One gave the state ethics watchdog new teeth and added an anti-nepotism provision. It said public officials can't participate in decisions to hire family members. But with an amendment, lawmakers made themselves exempt.

The same year, lawmakers quietly voted to double payroll budgets for the interim -- the time when the Legislature is not in session -- and rebuild their Capitol offices at a cost of $60 million.

BEST FOR THE JOB

Lawmakers overwhelmingly give the same reason for employing family as staff: They say they're simply the best for the job.

For example, Rep. Cedric Hayden, R-Roseburg, paid his father -- a former seven-term state representative -- $11,659 to work as his aide this year, and $19,428 last year.

"He has the most qualifying resume of any staff member in the building," Hayden said, noting his father's public service and graduate degrees.

"Going to the Legislature with my father was on my bucket list," he said. "If there are political consequences I will take them with a smile as I recall the joys I have had with dad."

Another element is trust. Family ties run deep and can be an asset in the perfidious world of politics.

"You've got to have people you can really trust. It's tough. We get hit," said Courtney, the Senate president. "When family's here, they'll always have my back and look out for me and tell me 'no' when they need to. They can be honest with me."

Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, agreed.

"Who do you trust?" she said. "The Legislature is a bit of a viper pit."

She said her husband, Mark Parrish, is on her staff half-time to help with policy analysis and represent her at meetings in her district. He earned $19,431 during the session for that work, records show -- a big jump from the $5,000 he earned last year. The pair also run a successful political consulting firm, PIP Communications.

Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn, said the decision to hire her husband was in part about trust.

"Mark has a West Point degree and he's been an inspector general in the military. You can't buy that kind of expertise," she said.

Greenlick, the Portland Democrat who's paid his wife as an aide for going on two decades, said her paycheck is a matter of principle.

"We don't need the money," said Greenlick, who noted he earned a generous retirement package during his time as a Kaiser executive. But, he said, Harriet Greenlick "feels very strongly she deserves the pay for the work she does."

DISTANCE A CHALLENGE

Many state lawmakers descend on the Capitol from the state's far-flung corners. They often rent a Salem apartment for the five-month legislative session, since commuting back and forth is impractical.

Republican Rep. Duane Stark lives in Grants Pass, more than a four-hour drive from the Capitol. Instead of commuting, Stark, his wife Dusti Marie Stark and their five homeschooled kids relocate to Salem for the sessions. During session, his work as a pastor is put on hold, same with his wife's business as a counselor.

To make ends meet, Stark said, he pays Dusti Marie as an aide. He paid her $18,704 for work during this year's session, and $13,521 last year.

"Because of the distance and the pay I don't know how long my family would be able to afford to do it," Stark said. "I wouldn't do the job if I had to leave my family for six months."

Distance and the attendant loneliness can also cause lawmakers' marriages to suffer. Having a spouse on staff can be a morale boost.

"They warn us, 'Watch your marriage,'" said Rep. Carl Wilson, R-Grants Pass. "The legislative session can be very dangerous for that. Part of it is isolation."

Courtney, the Senate president, said lawmakers from rural areas "would be lost" without a family member nearby.

"I sympathize particularly with the rural legislators," he said. "Sitting by yourself in a little apartment look at four walls instead of having family there -- boy."

CHANGE IN PAY NEEDED

Lawmakers in both parties say they are paid too little, at just over $23,000 a year. Increasing the pay may stave off incentives to hire family as staff, they say, and open state politics to the less-affluent.

"I think there's a real advantage of having a citizen Legislature. It means people have to go back to real life and be much more responsive," said Greenlick, the Portland Democrat.

Senate President Peter Courtney said it may be time to increase legislative pay.

But, he said, the legislative salary should be doubled to make lawmaking a family-wage job. That way, younger candidates from more diverse financial backgrounds may seek office, he said.

"It would be a whole different ball game," he said.

Rep. Bill Kennemer, R-Oregon City, said he has mixed thoughts about whether legislative pay should be bumped up. Cherie McGinnis was Kennemer's aide when he was first elected, in 1986. He's since been widowed and the two eventually married. Kennemer kept McGinnis on as staff and paid her $48,487 last year.

"I'd hate to see us go to increases where we're professional legislators where we're there for money instead of service," he said. "That's a defining point for many of us who serve."

Asked what could cut down on nepotism, Courtney said higher legislative pay may do the trick. Even a small raise could go a long way, he said.

"We haven't done that. We're afraid to increase pay," he said. "We're paralyzed in that way."

-- Gordon R. Friedman

503-221-8209; @GordonRFriedman