Life in trailer suits legislator

Charles Thomas says it's better than staying in a hotel during session

State Rep. Charles Thomas of Asheville avoided the expense of renting in Raleigh while the legislature is in session by bringing his own apartment from the mountains. All he had to worry about was backing it in to a lot.

When his legislative workday ends, the Republican freshman heads south out of Raleigh, passes the mobile homes and RVs in his Wake County neighborhood and sacks out for the night in a travel trailer.

After he was elected in November, Thomas considered the traditional legislator habitats -- condos, hotels and apartments. He decided instead on a trailer he bought in December for family vacations.

The trailer includes two recliners, a small couch, a dining table, a queen-size bed and a washer and dryer. Before a recent legislative session, Thomas had the flat-screen television tuned to CNBC while a fake fireplace glowed beneath.

"It's not exactly roughing it," he said.

Thomas isn't the first to break from the pack when it comes to legislator living.

Former Republican Rep. Michael Decker of Forsyth County slept in a van while in Raleigh. Harry Payne, a former Democratic House member from New Hanover County, lived for a while with a colleague's mother and two other legislators.

"It certainly was better than the local rates on motels and apartments," said Payne, who is now chairman of the state Employment Security Commission.

Thomas, who owns a flight school with his wife and works as a financial adviser, can afford to live in a place where the walls don't retract.

But the trailer park life can be viewed as an experiment on whether legislators can live on their $104 daily living allowance.

Critics say that even with the allowance, the $13,951 a year salary makes it hard for a regular working person to be a legislator, even if it is supposed to be a part-time job.

Thomas said his decision to live in a trailer park isn't a comment on legislative pay.

But he said it raises an interesting question about who can afford it.

"Could a single mom do this?" he asked. "Absolutely not."