LegiStorm: Transparency's Sidekick

Spring is in the air and earmarks are flowing to the well-connected. The Hill newspaper illustrates that point this morning with a tale of how a New Jersey congressman has requested approximately $40 million in earmarks for clients of a lobbying firm managed by his former chief of staff.

Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development subcommittee, has made 12 earmark requests for entities represented by Winning Strategies, the firm managed by his former chief of staff, Donna Mullins.

Three of the earmark requests, totaling $9 million, went to generous campaign donors. Winning Strategies was one of Frelinghuysen's top five campaign donors in the last election, with Mullins donating $13,600 since 2003. The Hill finds that neither Frelinghuysen nor Winning Strategies appear to be breaking any rules in their actions, but notes that the requests demonstrate the importance of the revolving door in the lobbying process. As Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense told The Hill, "People with very tight connections are able to deliver for their clients." Frelinghuysen says that his earmark requests serve the interests of his constituents. His office would not comment on the relationship between the congressman and Winning Strategies.

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Local news media outlets across the country have taken an interest in congressional staff bonuses, using salary data provided by LegiStorm.

The stories - in places like Wisconsin, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah - follow up on a Wall Street Journal article earlier this month that reported that House members handed out the highest seasonal bonuses in years to their own employees in 2008. The scrutiny of congressional staff bonus practices comes as members of Congress have railed against CEOs who paid hefty bonuses with taxpayer bailout money. 

For example, the Salt Lake Tribune reports that former Utah Rep. Chris Cannon (R) handed out bonues equivalent to a 50 percent pay raise for some of his staffers after losing his district's Republican primary. According to the Tribune, Cannon "wanted to thank his staffers for the work they had done and entice them to stay until he left office in January. But his primary motivation was helping them get bigger salaries in their next jobs."

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Earmarks are getting some renewed attention, and reporters are finding fresh examples of Washington's addiction to pork.

Roll Call has a story today about millions of dollars in earmarks requested by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) for his alma mater Tougaloo College. Problem is, the college doesn't know what the earmarks are for and it's not apparent it could provide the engineering services Thompson wants to fund since it has no discernible engineering program.

The story comes on the heels of the Washington Post's look this weekend at earmarks requested by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.). The Post highlighted the John Murtha Airport in Murtha's hometown of Johnstown, Pa., a lightly-used airport which has been kept afloat largely due to earmarks requested by Murtha.

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The Salt Lake Tribune published a story today using LegiStorm's data to highlight the jump in pay former Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah) gave his staff after losing his re-election bid in the primary last year.

The Tribune says Cannon aides generally saw bonuses or raises of around 50 percent, and they cite LegiStorm information showing one aide got a 70-percent lift in his pay as Cannon's term ended.

You can read more here about the trend of bonuses to congressional staff as revealed in LegiStorm's data.

The Wall Street Journal has reviewed the annual practice of lawmakers rewarding staff with annual bonuses - and this past year they appeared to do so in record numbers, according to the LegiStorm data that the Journal cited.

Bonuses are not unusual on Capitol Hill. But 2008 seems to have been an unusually big year for bonuses, according to the most recent House data LegiStorm analyzed. Each year, personnel compensation rises in the fourth quarter in the House of Representatives (data for the Senate is not yet available and is not as easily broken down). But in 2008, average pay per House employee spiked the most in the eight years since we have begun tracking salary data.

The Journal found that House bonuses ranged as high as $14,000. The New York Post also ran a more focused story this week about Rep. Vito Fossela's (R-N.Y.) generosity with bonuses as he served out a scandal-ridden last few months in office.

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