I’m not buying any bulldroppings from the AP.
Congressional salaries and office expenses (including payroll) are two totallly different things. AP is comparing apples and oranges here and then beating up the congresspersons for it. How fair.
Stupid examples.
Cantor was majority whip. When majority staffs become minority staffs, they tend to be more expensive then the preivous minority staff, which had been in the minority for years. I would be more interested in if the number went down the following year or not.
Bachman simply received the pay raise EVERY congressperson received. You can be against pay raises, but still take them if you are entitled, just as I presume EVERY DEMOCRAT who makes more than 250,000 a year will take the tax cut they all railed about.
2006 was Coburn’s first year, when he put together his first bare-bones office staff. It isn’t at all surprising that as he got around, figured out the job, and determined how to serve his constituents, the costs went up. As the article states, his costs are still well below the average costs. He simply started at a very low cost.