Sunlight On Congressional Salaries
LegiStorm is causing a bit of a to-do by posting the salaries of members of Congress and their staff:
“Who knew it was going to get posted on the Web? It’s shocking,” said one House Democratic chief of staff, who requested anonymity to discuss her personal finances. “Now that anybody can look it up on the Web, I don’t know if I like it anymore.”
Her forms for 2006, which were filed last spring, included her home address and 32 pages of detailed statements about bank accounts under the name of her husband and daughter. That prompted her to raise concerns about identity theft at a chiefs of staff meeting in March.
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Under federal law, staffers who earn more than $110,000 a year must file financial disclosure forms. In addition to staffers’ financial holdings, the documents show any outside income, gifts received and official positions held with outside groups.
Before LegiStorm existed, anyone searching for salary and financial disclosure information had to trek down to the basement of the Cannon House Office Building to rummage through the records. Those searching for financial disclosure forms, either for a lawmaker or a staffer, had to enter their name into a computer database, leaving a record of whose documents they were examining.
LegiStorm claims that since starting they’ve helped shed light on some questionable transactions among top staffers. The House is looking into changing their forms to limit the personal information on there, but I don’t see this type of service as a bad thing given that aides are the movers and the shakers and being paid with money that comes from our pockets.
