Daschle staffers to get severance

Rapid City Journal.com ^ | 12/02/2004 | Denise Ross

[anniegetyourgun]

Ah, the Senate making a gift of taxpayer funds....and an on-going entitlement at that......inatspecial.....

[GSlob]

Dashle was around for quite a while. At least some of his employees were as well, in all probability. Standard formula was a week of severance per year of service, right?

[ladyjane]

Daschle has about 80 employees

Eighty employees!! Doing what?

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Daschle staffers to get severance

One can always hope.

:)

[River_Wrangler]

Gee, wasn't Congress originally intended as a part-time gig? It still is. How many days a year do you take paid leave to campaign for your job?

[rabidralph]

Not only that, they have two months' notice that they'll be out of a job, why do they get severance for that? In the real world, you get severance because the loss of your job is very sudden.

[sgtbono2002]

Why doesnt Dan Blather do a 60 minute piece on this theft?

[The Old Hoosier]

This is hillarious. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) fired her entire staff after winning (they can now re-apply for their own jobs). Her people would be better off if she'd lost!

[Dianna]

Aides must have worked for a senator for a minimum of 183 days to get the severance package. According to The Hill newspaper, severance payments would stop after eligible staffers get new jobs.

So, do we pay forever if they decide not to get new jobs?

[NonValueAdded]

Technically, I'd say staffers already get two months worth of severance pay. They know their fate on the night of Nov. 2nd [ or later :) ] and their bosses don't leave office until January. That is more than enough notice time ... certainly more than is usual in the private sector. Any additional pay is simply a waste of taxpayer's money. I hope you all let your current and new (if applicable) Senators know that this is a crock and we expect to see correcting legislation introduced in the next session [ fat chance alert ].

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

One last looting of the treasury...
for old times' sake.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

$680,000
% 80 staffers

---

$8,500.00 each on avg.

Chief of staff much more, part timers/interns much less.

BUT as noted upthread, this is just the actual salaries, bet it's the TIP of the iceberg.....OUTRAGE!

Can we get a citizen petition / sue Congress for specific performance to repeal this NOW?!? Surely if Michael Newdow can sue Congress, so can we!

[Moose Dung]

Probably not much chance of Daschel's used staffers getting new work in DC right now....there's a bunch of used Rat staffers in line at the unemployment office.

dung.

[fuquadukie]

According to The Hill newspaper, severance payments would stop after eligible staffers get new jobs.

Yeah, right.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

It's a bargain. Before the election, if someone had proposed $700,000 in taxpayer money for Daschle to stay home for good, anybody in their right mind would have voted yes.

Indeed.... Now, if we could "buy out the contracts" of a few more senators, maybe a couple of million dollars each... perhaps the taxpayers will come out ahead at the end of the day.

[MplsSteve]

Seriously? She did?

Wow, I gotta think not too many of those staffers are looking forward to re-applying to work for her!

I'm willing to bet a fair share of them were on her dad's Senate before he resigned to become Governor.

[sergeantdave]

I hate this socialist crap. Doesn't the house need to sign off on this taxpayer theft? Or are the lords of the senate allowed to steal as much money as it wishes?

I'd say this: "%^&7#$6&E^!!" but I'd probably get banned for a thousand years.

[oflyboy]

Wish you had not mentioned the House. I can see all the House members getting the same when they are defeated. Whatever illness politicans get when they arrive in D.C., they all catch it.

[Wristpin]

How about this? The Senate recoups Kerry and Edwards pay for the last two years for missed time spent campaigning. That $600K pays for the severance of the staffers.

[Rodney King]

The idea of severance is to help someone out of an unexected layoff so that he/she can get a new job. However, these staffers have known since 11/2 that they needed to get a new job, and there is therfore no justification for giving them any severance.