LegiStorm Pro

Campaigns seeking to cudgel the opposition this election season have been employing LegiStorm in a variety of contexts.

Some examples: 

In Missouri's heated Senate race, the campaigns of Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) and Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) traded barbs over the level of pay females in Akin's office receive. Citing LegiStorm's database of congressional staff salaries, McCaskill's campaign alleges that Akin paid female staffers 23.4 percent less than men from 2001-2010. Akin's campaign quickly retorted using LegiStorm's information that in the most recent quarter of 2012, female Akin staffers earned $3,158 more than their male counterparts.

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Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) has filed an amended financial disclosure detailing previously undisclosed payments from his campaign to his wife.

Johnson's campaign paid his wife, Mereda Davis Johnson, $30,000 from 2008-2010 according to the amendment, which was filed on July 1 but only became available on the House's disclosure website late this week.

The Committee to Re-Elect Hank Johnson campaign had disclosed the payments in FEC filings, usually as "consulting" or "salary," but Johnson had not disclosed the payments on his personal financial disclosure. Filers are required to disclose all sourcesof their spouses' income. The lawmaker listed the exact amount of campaign payments to his wife as $9,250 in 2008, $12,000 in 2009, and $8,750 in 2010.

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The sometimes-convoluted rules regarding congressional staff and campaign work became an issue in a Missouri race for a House of Representatives seat this week.

The Missouri Republican Party attacked Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) for appearing to keep his campaign manager on the official House payroll. According to the Jefferson City News-Tribune, the state GOP e-mailed a release linking to LegiStorm's data showing that Jason Rauch, now managing Skelton's campaign, earned more than $28,000 as a Legislative Assistant through the first six months of 2010.

However, Skelton's office said Rauch was placed on unpaid leave June 28 to work on the campaign.

It is not unusual for congressional staffers to go on leave without pay status to work on their boss's campaign and to avoid running afoul of ethics restrictions on campaign work and outside income. But even if Rauch had remained on Skelton's official payroll while working on the campaign, it would not violate House ethics rules as long as he did not do any campaign work using official resources or time, and continued to fulfill his official House duties.

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Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) is aiming to switch chambers - he's running to be the Democratic nominee in the race for Florida's contested Senate seat this year.

Meek faces an uphill battle for the seat, but he's ahead of the crowd in at least one respect. Meek has released all of his tax returns for the past seven years, a move usually reserved for presidential candidates.

You can see all of Meek's tax returns and personal financial disclosures here at LegiStorm.

Former congressional staffer Mark Critz has moved up and will soon be hiring staff of his own.

Critz, a long-time aide to Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) won the special election Tuesday to replace Murtha, who died in February. Critz's personal financial disclosure is already available on our site.

Critz is just one of many former staffers who are attempting to win higher office this year. Earlier, LegiStorm highlighted a few other former aides who are aiming for congressional seats.>

Rep. Nathan Deal's decision to resign from Congress unexpectedly last week didn't stop the Office of Congressional Ethics from releasing its findings that he may have violated ethics rules.

Deal, a Republican currently running for governor in Georgia, may have violated House ethics rules by exceeding congressional income limits, failing to properly disclose income he received from an auto salvage business and misusing his seat to steer state policy to favor his own interests, according to the report disclosed by the bipartisan ethics commission. 

The report said Deal failed to disclose that he serves as corporate secretary of a Georgia auto salvage business called Gainesville Salvage and Disposal, also known as Recovery Services Inc., and the amount of income he receives in that roll.

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The 2010 campaign season is starting to heat up, and around the country former congressional aides are aiming to move into the ranks of members of Congress.

In Arkansas, David Boling is attempting to follow in his boss’ footsteps. Soon after Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) announced he would not seek re-election, Boling resigned his position as Snyder’s chief of staff to mount his own campaign for the seat.

In Tennesse, former staffer Jack Bailey is running for the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-Tenn.). Bailey served as chief of staff to Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) until 2002.

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A trip to South Florida by a dozen senators last weekend highlights a loophole in congressional travel regulations.

The House and Senate both restricted most privately funded travel for trips that have any connection with lobbyists in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal. But that hasn't stopped lawmakers from taking trips with lobbyists.

According to a report in Politico, 12 Democratic senators took a trip to Miami Beach last weekend for a fundraiser attended by top lobbyists. The guest list for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's "winter retreat" included 108 senior Washington lobbyists. Many of the lobbyists represented fields that are normally in the crosshairs of Democratic rhetoric, including banking, tobacco, oil and pharmaceuticals.

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The amount House members are allowed to spend on office supplies, franked mail and staff salaries may be about to take a big jump.

The House of Representatives' chief administrative officer asked lawmakers to raise the total pool for member administrative expenses by $90 million, or about 15 percent, according to Roll Call.

The Members' Representational Allowances, as they are known, range from about $1.4 million to $1.7 million for each office. The expense allowance is based on various factors, including the distance of a member's district to D.C. and the cost of office space in their home district.

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The salaries are in. The pay figures for staff members from the House of Representatives' fourth quarter of 2008 are now available on LegiStorm, having been entered from the thick disbursement records released by the House of Representatives.

This data period is critical because it is the time when Santa Claus brings goodies to dedicated staff in the way of annual bonuses. Bonuses are not a universal perquisite on the Hill but they are a common way for members to reward staff who have merited them. This assumes that members have budgeted well and have sufficient funds available in their annual allotment, known as the Member's Representational Allowance.

The latest collection of salary data is a window into one of the fiercest fought elections in modern times. Elections can affect how congressional staffers are paid, both in legal and not-so-legal ways. For example, staff members often take leave to work on campaigns, whether their bosses' or those of others. The pay records can reflect those absences.

And sometimes, staffers receive compensation from the campaigns but volunteers on a campaign usually vastly outnumber the paid staff. Therefore, campaign work is often a volunteer or grossly underpaid activity. Occasionally, members of Congress reward aides with bonuses, even if unconsciously, for their special dedication to the campaign. Since federal law prohibits the use of tax dollars to subsidize campaigns, such a use of bonuses would be improper.

Also controversial is the payment of large bonuses by members of Congress who are departing. With no more concern about getting re-elected, members can be quite generous with taxpayer money toward their staff.

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