Current Defense Minister Bjrn Arild Gram (Sp) is listed with revenue of 1,506,877 and 1,573,384 kroner in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In the same years, the then mayor received 70,000 kroner from Starting at the same time as his full salary. Stingger Municipality.
In 2018, Hells received 100,167 grams as board fees from the North-Trondhelock Health Trust and NOK 29,219 from the Trondelock County Municipality. In 2019, Hell received a board fee of NOK 101,000 and at least 16,491 from the Trondeloc County Municipality as board fees from the North-Trondhelock Health Trust.
In addition, Gram was vice president of KS during these years. In 2016, KS decided that the deputy manager should receive NOK 410,000 in annual salary, while in 2019 it was decided that the deputy manager’s annual salary should be increased to NOK 453,000.
Dagbladet reveals: Gram received two salaries
“No problem”
Docbladet asked what Gram thinks about what he earned when he was prime minister mayor, who earned about 1.7 million kroner in 2018 and 2019.
“The pay for the mayor is far below the standard of the prime minister. I also run a farm, earn some capital, and hold paid positions for it. I have no problem with that. “
On Monday last week, the Secretary of Defense returned Gram NOK 79,769 to the municipality of Stinger. This is the result of Docblade’s disclosure that he received salaries from the municipalities of Storting and Steinker simultaneously in 2018 and 2019.
Gram said he believed he had followed all the rules but had refunded the money to avoid doubts about his honesty.
“At the time you mentioned, I was mayor and was elected locally in the municipality of Steinker. I was also an aide to Storting and had to meet several times in Oslo for a short period of time. , It is important for me to follow up on the cases that have taken place locally in the municipality, “Gram said in a written statement.
Minister of Defense: Gram was appointed Minister of Defense in April 2022 when Ad Roger Enoxon resigned. Until then, Gram had been the Minister of Local Government and District of Norway. Photo: Lise serud / NTB
See also
Call from Sorting
In 2021, the Presidency of Sporting called on Sporting representatives not to accept pay from municipal and county elected representatives. This is not to say that the overall situation is unreasonable as a result of the pay panel’s recommendation that pay be integrated into elected representatives who hold elected positions at various levels.
– I do not think Gram did anything illegal. In the end, it is up to the residents of Steinker municipality to decide if this is the best way to do it. It is also conceivable that placing a key person on Sorting would be beneficial to the municipality.
Train Myrwald, a senior researcher and political scientist at OsloMet, answers DocBlatt’s questions.
I think it’s good to be more open about this, as it may be something most people in Steinker do not know, but should know.
At the same time, Myrvolt points out that many local politicians have spent most of their lives working for these positions and working hard for pay.
Double vacation pay will be waived
Can be confusing
– What do you think about earning 1.5 million kroner per gram when you were mayor?
– This is more than the salary that most people can get through regular work. We looked at examples of how you can achieve income at that level if you have a sufficient number of positions, says Myrwald.
Recently wrote N.R.K. Kari Sofie Bjørnsen (H) and Ida Ohme Pedersen (Frp), two of the highest paid politicians in Wigan, both earned more than 1.4 million kroner in 2021.
– Some elected representatives have many combinations of positions, which is not easy to get an overview or create simple rules. Nowadays, the most important thing is that most people are aware of how high the pay will be so that one can form their own opinion about it.
Two dangers
Mirwald warns that such cases represent two potential risks.
– There are two risks associated with this: If politicians are paid too much, one might suspect that some people accept positions to make a lot of money. There is no good motivation to take this type of position.
Another danger is that taking positions is so lucrative that positions are not distributed to multiple hands. There may be some advantages to having multiple elected representatives in multiple positions, for example you will get permanent representation, but most will enjoy that it would be better if the positions were shared to get more positions. People will not retain their positions because they have to make sure they are profitable.
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