Who would have thought of gigs teaching college courses as political patronage? Yet, it’s surprising to see such second incomes so prominent among the special interest salaries drawn by state legislators:

Some — but not all — of this information is available in the disclosure reports filed in recent weeks with the secretary of state’s office by that relatively small coterie of lobbyists whose employers acknowledge having given something of value or, perhaps, a consulting fee or salary to a state legislator. …
At this point, 151 of the lobbyists — and the companies and interest groups that employed them — are delinquent in filing the disclosure reports that were due on Jan. 15. In total, there were 388 legislative lobbyists, 357 entities with lobbyists and 34 lobbying firms registered for the 2009 legislative session.

Depending on the subject matter, teaching a course or two can certainly be a well-remunerated, unarduous task on a par with “consulting.” Of course, the prominence of this particular boost to the incomes of members of the General Assembly may recede now that the Rhode Island judiciary has determined that it’s legal for legislators to sell their votes.