House Democrats blast James Uthmeier’s pay at UF Law — but overlook half his workload

A report from House Democrats says the University of Florida hasn’t paid other instructors so it could cover Attorney General James Uthmeier’s $100,000 adjunct salary. But within hours of releasing the report, the caucus acknowledged a major error in calculations.

Members of the House Democratic Caucus called Uthmeier’s pay “disproportionate” to other adjunct law professors.

“This has got to be the best part-time job I’ve ever heard of,” House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell said during a press availability. “His salary was so far above everyone else. It was embarrassing.”

Uthmeier is paid more than most law adjuncts. According to records requested by the House Democrats, one other adjunct at the university’s law school was paid $15,000 per semester. Most earned $6,000 or less. “The semester he taught, Uthmeier’s salary was more than 40% of all adjunct professor pay, inclusive of himself,” the report states.

UF paid 33 adjuncts in the Fall, including Uthmeier. The total budget for adjunct law professor salaries that semester was $245,000. Records show that in the Fall, there were 10 adjuncts at the law school who weren’t paid at all, even as Uthmeier collected a six-figure check.

“James Uthmeier took money meant to pay for the education of UF Law students. You cannot tell me, wasting $100,000 for a single two-hour class was a good use of tax dollars,” Driskell said. “It wasn’t good for the law school’s faculty. It wasn’t good for the students, and it wasn’t good for Florida.”

But the report doesn’t acknowledge that, unlike every other adjunct teaching at the law school, Uthmeier was paid for his services for the whole year, not just a single semester.

As first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, the state’s leading university agreed to pay the six-figure to Uthmeier to teach one course in both the Fall and Spring semesters. Uthmeier in the Fall taught a course on “Executive Powers.” This semester, Uthmeier is teaching a class on “Federalism and Separation of Powers.”

In the Spring semester, the law school paid 32 instructors at a cost of $237,000, but that total doesn’t include Uthmeier’s pay. There were no instructors listed by the school as unpaid adjuncts in the Spring.

The House Democrats’ report calculated Uthmeier’s pay at $1,000 per day. But that’s based on him only teaching in the Fall. The actual amount would be about half that, based on the fact Uthmeier is continuing to teach.

Jackson Peel, Communications Director for the House Democratic Office, acknowledged that oversight, and said the fact Uthmeier was paid for the year wasn’t immediately clear in the response to public records from UF.

While the $500 a day pay still overshadows most adjunct professors at the law school, the error blunts the reported disparity significantly. Effectively, Uthmeier was paid $50,000 per course.

Uthmeier’s Office confirmed he has continued to teach in the Spring semester but declined to speak further on the House Democrats’ report.

The report still shows the university paid less to other professors during the semester when Uthmeier collected his $100,000 payment.

Besides Uthmeier, adjunct professors at the law school on average earned $4,394 during the Fall semester. In the Spring, the average salary was $7,406.