Phillip Locker, one of the Sawant’s contractors, defended his boss by saying that the practice of paying campaign employees as independent contractors is typical among American politicians.

At the same time, Sawant’s reelection website stresses that she is not a typical politician.

“Kshama does not take a penny in corporate cash,” her volunteer-sign-up page explains, for example. “We are building a grassroots alternative to corporate politics.”

Locker also noted that Sawant doesn’t want large corporations to pay employees exactly the same way she pays her own employees.

“We are absolutely against that,” Locker said according to KIRO. However, he rationalized, there are “times when it is appropriate for someone to be an independent contractor.”