"The chairman is going to have a pretty full plate, and the position needs a full-time legislator," he said.

Ford worked as a car salesman and later became a full-time legislator.

Not surprisingly, 147 of the 211 lawmakers now consider themselves full-time legislators, although they meet in session for only half a year.

He is a full-time legislator, with a career that spans law, business, and public service.

He was formerly a director of an alternative energy division for a communications construction company, but is now a full-time legislator.

The largest increases for the region have been in the categories of retirees, homemakers and full-time legislators.

Green, a physician and state representative, had accumulated over $120,000 for funding his campaign, while Isbell noted that she would have been a full-time legislator.

In 1993, she closed her successful law practice in order to serve her district as a legislator full-time.

As a full-time legislator," he said in an interview, "you lose touch with your constituents.

He urged the panel, along with a committee studying legislators' pay, to consider the issue of full-time legislators.