By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—Overtime pay for former State Trooper Wendell Ray Lewis’ protective service work for Gov. Robert Bentley has become part of the rumor narrative surrounding the first couples pending divorce.
However, a comparison of the past three administrations, dating back to 1999, show that overtime pay for Gov. Bentley’s protective service detail is consistent with those for Gov. Don Siegelman and Gov. Bob Riley.
Additionally, an examination of flight logs from 1999 to the present show, that the flight logs policy for executive aircraft has remained unchanged. The records show that every flight has included a pilot and co-pilot, and the very configuration of the airplane debunks some of the more salacious claims being bantered about in the rumor mill and blogosphere.
Under Alabama State law, the Department of Public Safety, now known as ALEA, is required to provide 24 hour-a-day/7 day-a-week protection for designated public officials. These include: the Governor; Lieutenant Governor; President Pro Tem of the Senate; Speaker of the House of Representatives; and the Attorney General. Section 36-33-2 of the Alabama Code also states that the Dignitary Protection Unit provide security for visiting dignitaries, such as: foreign heads of state; visiting Governors; members of the US Congress; etc.
A search of around 1800 documents provided by ALEA, after receipt of a FOIA request by this publication found that standards of protection provided by the Protective Services Unit, as well as overtime pay, have been uniformly applied over the last three administrations.
A comparison of overtime pay, per diem for Wendell Ray Lewis (11/1/2010-4/1/2015) Bentley Administration, Ronald P. Hayden (12/14/2002-5/16/2007) Riley Administration, and Danny M. Hester (2/15/1997-2/1/2006) Siegleman Administration show that each man received approximately the same pay.
Considering the rate of inflation, Siegleman’s body man Hester received $58,156.29 in overtime in 2002, and Riley’s man Hayden garnered $56,309.21 in 2008 at their highest, compared to Lewis high of 63,046.16.
Full figures provided below:
Wendell Ray Lewis (11/1/2010-4/1/2015) | Bentley Administration
Year Total Pay Annual Salary Over Time Paid / Per Diem
2014 $135,211.55 $86,390.40 $48,821.15
2013 $140,842.81 $82,262.40 $58,580.41
2012 $139,008.56 $82,262.40 $56,746.16
2011 $145,308.56 $82,262.40 $63,046.16
2010 $81,718.67 $76,348.80 $5,369.87
John H. Taylor (6/11/2005-1/16/2011) | Riley Administration
Year Total Pay Annual Salary Over Time Paid / Per Diem
2010 $123,031.39 $72,686.40 $50,344.99
2009 $104,488.46 $69,098.40 $35,390.06
2008 $116,490.06 $65,690.40 $50,799.66
2007 $90,928.27 $60,415.20 $30,513.07
2006 $96,504.81 $55,560.00 $40,944.81
2005 $79,620.54 $50,395.80 $29,224.74
Ronald P. Hayden (12/14/2002-5/16/2007) | Riley Administration
Year Total Pay Annual Salary Over Time Paid / Per Diem
2004 $100,198.36 $47,543.60 $52,654.76
2003 $112,856.90 $51,155.00 $61,701.90
2002 $59,330.52 $51,155.00 $8,175.52
Danny M. Hester (2/15/1997-2/1/2006) | Siegleman Administration
Year Total Pay Annual Salary Over Time Paid / Per Diem
2005 $82,394.52 $73,135.40 $9,259.12
2004 $83,056.59 $68,286.40 $14,770.19
2003 $87,019.16 $68,286.40 $18,732.76
2002 $115,057.04 $65,686.40 $49,370.64
2001 $107,490.37 $57,725.20 $49,765.17
2000 $94,903.26 $55,164.20 $39,739.06
1999 $67,571.83 $48,942.40 $18,629.43
John E. Richardson (2/13/1999-11/15/2002) | Siegleman Administration
Year Total Pay Annual Salary Over Time Paid / Per Diem
2002 $103,295.65 $59,456.80 $43,838.85
2001 $88,493.15 $54,865.20 $33,627.95
2000 $84,736.66 $51,155.00 $33,581.66
1999 $63,777.13 $47,736.00 $16,041.13
In the approximately three years, eight months, Lewis served as Bentley’s body man, worked 2,951.84 hours in overtime, for an average of 15.8 hours of overtime per week; if averaged over the entire 186 weeks.
State statute under Section 36-21-4 states, “Overtime — Compensation generally. Each state law enforcement officer in the service of the state who is assigned to duty for more than 40 hours during the calendar week shall be paid time and one half for such excess hours worked or he shall be given time and one-half compensatory leave as herein provided, except as hereinafter limited. Such officers shall normally work a 40-hour work week.
“Hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any calendar week shall be compensated at the rate of one and one-half times his regular rate of pay up to a maximum of eight hours per week; however, compensatory time at the rate of one and one-half times regular time may be paid for overtime worked. The decision of whether to accept overtime pay or compensatory time shall be at the sole option of the officer. For the time worked, when required by employee’s department, through September 30, 1977, hours worked in excess of 48 up to 54 hours, the officer shall be given straight compensatory time off. Time worked in excess of 54 hours per week shall be compensated at a rate of one and one-half times the regular pay or one and one-half times compensatory time at the discretion of the department. For the period October 1, 1977, and thereafter, all hours over 48 shall be one and one-half compensatory time or pay at the discretion of the department.”
In August 2014, ALEA Secretary Spencer Collier issued a directive to the Dignitary Protection Unit, that no one would accrue any non-contractual overtime while assigned to a protective detail. Even with this 24 hour-a-day /7 day-a-week, protection was provided in accordance with state law.
According to information provided by ALEA, “Executive flights are a service provided by ALEA aviation but are a secondary duty that comprise only a small fraction of the overall number of flights.”
Executive flights equates to around 8 percent of the total. “Executive flights can be by helicopter but are normally provided in ALEA’s King Air 200 (twin-prop airplane). Since 1999 all executive flights on airplanes have been conducted with a pilot, co-pilot, and executive passengers. ALEA’s King Air 200 is a compact plane with limited seating, capacity or space.”
The King Air 200 is open from the cockpit to the tail which provides no privacy for the pilots or passengers.
Aviation Flight Detail logs provided by ALEA for the time period 01/01/1988 – 07/31/2015 lists all flights conducted by its Aviation Unit during that time period.
The passenger manifests do not include the names of all passengers which, according to ALEA, is in compliance 14 CFR 135.63 that requires that multi-engine aircraft manifests list the number of passengers only.
According to ALEA the organization has followed this regulation going back to 1988.
