Over the last few days, a tempest has been brewing over an allegation made by Scripps Howard columnist Deroy Murdock that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) pays less to women than he does to men in his Senate office. All the stories have accurately cited LegiStorm as the source for the raw data.
Naturally, the allegation has lit up the conservative blogosphere and made its way onto television, including ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos".
But along the way, a few commentators have taken liberty with the facts about LegiStorm's role so we wanted to clear that up. We carry the data and are happy to be the source for anyone, liberal or conservative, who wants to do analysis of that data. That's what it's there for - to provide openess in government and spark debate.
We were not, however, the source for the analysis that led to conclusion about equal pay. That analysis was solely done by Murdock. We do not take a position either for or against Murdock's analysis. We will simply note that there has been some debate about the validity of his claims because he did not include consideration of whether the men and women were doing equal work. Whether this criticism was valid is also something we do not take a position on.
We welcome hearing more about this issue in the future and hope that our data can serve as a useful source for both sides as they try to discover the truth.
