Joe Hackett says he's following his heart.
Apparently all the way to the bank.
Last fall Hackett won re-election to the state Legislature, turning back a vigorous challenge from Democrat Leanne Krueger-Braneky to represent the people of the 161st District in Harrisburg.
But just a couple of months after being sworn in, Hackett had a change of heart. He heard his true calling urging him to leave Harrisburg and return to Delco and his first love - police work.
Hackett stunned most folks by announcing he would resign his seat and return to his old job with the county Criminal Investigation Division.
You can't really fault him for that. But as I've said before, his timing was lousy.
If he was having these kind of leanings, it sure would have been nice if he had come to that conclusion last fall, before he won re-election to another two-year term.
And if that was not the case, at least he could have gone public with his decision in time to have the election to fill the seat aligned with the primary on May 19.
That's not what happened. Now the state will have to hold a special election to fill Hackett's 161st District position, likely sometime this summer, and at a considerable cost, maybe as much as $70,000.
Now something else odd has popped up in the strange odyssey.
Hackett has already returned to his job as a county detective. District Attorney Jack Whelan said he went back on the payroll April 13. The position pays $85,290 a year.
But until the end of the month, Hackett also will continue to collect his salary as a state rep, $85,338 a year.
I believe they refer to that as double-dipping.
Look, I know Hackett is not the first to do it. It's not terribly uncommon for legislators to hold outside employment. After all, it's supposed to be a part-time job.
And the truth is that the 18 days that he's on both payrolls does not amount to a lot of money.
But it looks lousy.
Hackett could have done a couple of things. He could have simply rejected his state rep's salary, or waited until he was officially off the state payroll to go back to work at the county level.
I guess Hackett could make the argument that he is doing both jobs. He's not talking about his jobs. I'm not saying he's not entitled to both salaries. Other people are doing that. I'm just saying it looks bad.
The people who voted for him did so expecting he was going to be their full-time legislator. I think it's safe to say they did not do so believing he would bail on the position and go back to police work.
They have to wonder what kind of bang they're getting for their buck. Or bucks. It's not clear how Hackett is splitting his time between Harrisburg and Media.
The only thing certain is this: He's getting paid for both.
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