Legistorm: Transparency's Sidekick

The Washington game of musical chairs has begun in earnest as current and former congressional aides angle for new positions. Last week's election has created plenty of opportunity for staffers. Former aides Daniel Maffei, Betsy Markey and Eric Paulsen were actually chosen by voters to return as members of Congress.

One congressional aide has already been named to the new presidential administration. Phil Schiliro, a long-time Hill hand who was chief of staff for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), has been selected the head of President-elect Barack Obama's legislative affairs office during the transition, and is expected to be Obama's legislative affairs director when the new administration takes office in January. Obama will likely take a large cohort of his Senate staff with him, as well. His own chief of staff, Pete Rouse, is co-chairing the transition team and is expected to serve as a deputy chief of staff in the White House.

Jim Messina, a former chief of staff to Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), joined the Obama campaign earlier this year and is the personnel director for the transition team. Robert Gibbs served as Obama's Senate communications director before moving to the same role in the campaign and will likely be the next White House press secretary.

As the adminstration takes shape over the coming weeks, expect many other top congressional aides to move up Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.

LegiStorm's staff salary information has been become the subject of a heated congressional campaign in Indiana's 9th District. The race is pitting incumbent Democratic Rep. Baron Hill against Republican Mike Sodrel, who defeated Hill for the post in 2004.

Hill alleges Sodrel's office did not co-operate after Hill's 2006 victory, making Hill's transition back into Congress difficult. Sodrel's campaign has countered by pointing out Hill raised his staff salaries about 84 percent after his defeat in 2004.

Hill paid his staff a total of $181,943 in the third quarter of 2004. The number jumped to $334,005 in the fourth quarter despite adding only one person to the staff.

You can see all of the salaries paid by Hill here. Sodrel's staff salaries are here.