– A wage increase as large as the one in question here seems a little strange and worrying. Election analyst and political scientist Svein Tore Marthinsen is surprised by news’s findings. It is about how the Conservatives in Viken use the money they receive from the schemes called party support and opposition supplements. In Viken, this pot is worth NOK 9 million, distributed among all parties. Most parties use their share to hire a secretary, pay for travel, meetings and free purchase. But one party stands out. The Conservatives give large sums of money from their money pot to pay their top politicians extra. How the Conservatives in Viken distribute their money Money set aside for allowances for the Conservatives’ county council group in 2022: These receive money: Iselin Haugo Stavn * (transport): 300,000 Tore Opdal Hansen (school): 200,000 Lise Hagen Rebbestad (plan): 200,000 Simen Nord, (finance): 150,000 Roar Lund (industry): 150,000 Anette Solli: (culture and group leader): 150,000 Kari Sofie Bjørnsen, (leader of the control committee): 150,000 Gunnar Melgaard, (control): 50,000 In addition there are expenses for pensions and employer contributions. * Currently in pregnancy sperm. Trine-Lise Østlund Blime works. See how the other parties spend their money further down the case. The Conservatives pay their own board One of the politicians who receives extra pay is Kari Sofie Bjørnsen. She earns more than many of Norway’s most powerful politicians. Bjørnsen receives more than NOK 1.4 million for his various positions. 150,000 of these come from the Conservative Party’s pot every year. Former mayor of Drammen Tore Opdal Hansen has around 1.4 million kroner in income. 200,000 of these come from the Conservative Party. Five other politicians are also rewarded with between 50,000 and 300,000 kroner from this pot. Several of them have millions in revenue, either wholly or partly from politics. MAKES GOOD: Simen Nord, Anette Solli and Tore Opdal Hansen all sit on the Conservative Party’s group board in Viken and are among the recipients of the Conservative Party’s extra money. Photo: Viken Høyre A free purchase or a bonus? Svein Tore Martinsen thinks one can question whether this use of money is actually a free purchase, or just a bonus. – I think many will think that here you have gone too far, and that you should not allocate yourself such large amounts as we are talking about here. Svein Tore Marthinsen has worked closely with Norwegian politics for a number of years. He is an election analyst and political scientist. Photo: Private MDG spends money on other things The Conservative Party’s group leader, Anette Solli, also gets a piece of the pie. Namely 150,000 kroner extra a year. She’s all alone about that. The other group leaders all have just under 800,000 kroner a year to pursue politics full time. Solli thinks she deserves more. – I get this money because I am also the faction leader for the Conservative Party in culture. It is simply because there is an additional job to be done, says Solli. The Green Party uses its money pot differently. – We have chosen to use our money to ensure that someone more than the group leader has the opportunity to work full time with politics in Viken, says group leader Kristin Antun. She believes this is important for politics and for voters to have the greatest benefit for their votes. The group leader for MDG, Kristin Antun, does not grant anything extra from the party support. Photo: Anders Fehn / news How the other parties distribute their money in 2022 The Labor Party (Labor Party) Party support: NOK 1,515,000 The money is used as follows: Free purchase of Hoda Iman: NOK 727,000 (social expenses amount to approx. 25 per cent.) Travel and possibly accommodation costs at group meetings / group meetings / supervisory boards, etc. Administrative services such as accounting. Senterpartiet (Sp) Party support: NOK 1,170,400 The money is used as follows: Free purchase by Magnus Weggesrud, group secretary: NOK 650,000. See the full accounts here. Socialist Left Party (SV) Party and opposition supplement: 784,746 for NOK The money is used as follows: No free purchase, but the plan is to hire someone who can work for the county council group. Travel to group meetings, participation fee for seminars and travel as a result of representation work. Miljøpartiet De Grønne (MDG) Party support and opposition supplement: NOK 1,088,370 The money is used as follows: Øyvind Solum: NOK 555,000 Kristoffer Robin Haug: NOK 78,333 (deduction in remuneration when he has met in the Storting) Hanne Lisa Matt: NOK 5,000 Benedicte Lund: NOK 5,000 Janicke Karin Solheim: 5000 kroner Ida Julsen: 5000 kroner Kristin Antun: 5000 kroner In addition, social security contributions the group has paid in connection with the free purchases. Otherwise: Costs related to group meetings and other meetings in-house, participation in meetings, seminars, conferences and some small expenses (bought a flower for the outgoing county leader as a thank you for good cooperation). Some funds for possible policy development projects Left (V) Party support and opposition supplement: 635. 934 kroner The money is used as follows: 550,000 kroner for county secretary Seminar, office operations and meetings The budget for 2022 has the same priorities as the previous year. See it here. The Liberal Party does not use money to buy out any representatives. Progress Party (Frp) Party support and opposition supplement: NOK 1,379,688 The money is used as follows: Everyone in the group, except leader Lavrans Kierulf and deputy leader Ida Ohme Pedersen, has been bought out with NOK 60,000 each. A representative has been redeemed with NOK 50,000. The rest goes to the operation of the group, budget seminars, courses and gatherings to get input from local teams. Kristelig Folkeparti (Krf) Party support and opposition supplement: NOK 481,122 How the money is used: free purchase of a county council representative in a 15% position, political adviser in a 50% position and secretary / treasurer in a 15% position Courses / conferences / schooling, meeting expenses, travel allowance, data / communication, office equipment / supplies and gifts / attention. Red (R) Party support and opposition supplement: NOK 625,613 How the money is used: Ann May Noomi Martinsen has been bought out for 290,000 See the accounts here. The Pensioners’ Party Party support and opposition supplement: NOK 329,000 How the money is used: Remuneration to Knut Erik Christophersen, Erik Leif Henni and Britt Hege Monsen Vestli is NOK 30,000 each. Purchase of services for NOK 75,000 in connection with the establishment of the Pensioners’ Party Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold when Viken is dissolved. The People’s Party (FNB) Party support and opposition supplement: NOK 597,422 The money is primarily used to pay the accountant, travel allowance, purchase of a secretary from the People’s Party Viken and for seminars. So far no money has been spent on free purchases by anyone. Believes a strong opposition needs money news has been in contact with all politicians in the Conservative group board. Not everyone in the group works with politics full time. That is why many say that money is important, so they can take time off from work. – It is important for us to be able to buy enough politicians, so we become a real alternative and a powerful opposition party, says group leader Anette Solli. Solli emphasizes that the red-green parties that govern Viken have many more full-time politicians with high salaries. Therefore, it is important for the Conservatives to “match” this salary. It is the Conservative Party’s county council group that decides on the use of money, not the board. – This may look like a bonus the party uses to reward the Conservatives’ leading politicians? – No, it is not. For some, this is what it takes, so that they do not have to take another job next door, says Solli. Anette Solli, the Conservative Party’s group leader in Viken, is concerned about openness about politicians’ remuneration. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB Rejects wage party in the back room Finding out what the county politicians in Viken actually earn has proved to be both time-consuming and difficult. In the overview that news first received from the county municipality, the money from the party support and the opposition supplement was not included. This means that salaries totaling several million kroner were not visible in the statistics. – There should be more openness about this here, because it should not seem like you have anything to hide, says political scientist Svein Tore Marthinsen. – The intention on our part has not been to hold anything back, answers director of the county council’s secretariat Ole Kjendlie. He writes that it is the parties themselves who decide how they spend this money. And that the administration did not understand that the party support was part of what news asked for, even though this money is paid out through the same salary system. In retrospect, news has received an overview of this from the county. The Conservatives, on the other hand, have answered openly about how they use their party support from the start. Hi! Do you have tips, input or comments on the case? In that case, feel free to contact us by e-mail. We are also interested in input on other cases you think we should look into.
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County politicians give themselves fat salary increases in secret – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
