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DEL.ICIO.USWanted: Congressional chief of staff with lower-than-usual salary requirements
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Athens) has resigned — two weeks after his boss’ impressive win in the GOP primary, and one week after news broke that the same boss has already spent most of his yearly budget allowance.
This comes from The Hill in Washington, a newspaper that covers Congress:
J. Aloysius Hogan, Broun’s chief of staff, was in charge of the Member’s Representational Allowance (MRA), which was depleted because of franked mail, according to sources. The franked mail, which was sent to constituents, may have helped Broun in his recent primary win.
Earlier this month, sources said that Broun’s MRA was so low that the lawmaker would have to cut staff. At the time, Broun’s office said it was unaware of any possible cuts…..
Jeff Ventura, a spokesman for the House Chief Administrative Officer, said, “Although we have seen MRAs dip this low before, what makes this situation unique is that it went so low so early in the calendar year.”
It was unclear at press time what the office planned to do in order to pay staffers, who could be furloughed if the problem is not resolved quickly. l
Comments
By k
July 30, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this
Even as the DCCC said it doesn’t plan to throw money into the 10th district, I would have to believe that with all the money they have, they might just put a little money into the district & see what happens.
By JeffersonWasRight
July 30, 2008 3:23 PM | Link to this
This doesn’t bode well for Broun. Any Congressman ‘fiscally responsible’ enough to cut crucial childrens’ healthcare programs and veterans’ benefits while pouring hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars into his own re-election campaign is the worst kind of hypocrite.
Let’s hope that Saxon makes an impact. He stresses responsibility in office, and that’s certainly something we need right now.
By American worker
July 30, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this
Not a conventional way of creating smaller government, but hey…it works!
By With Putpose and Dignity
July 30, 2008 6:26 PM | Link to this
This is what happens when Congress people are allowed to send out mailings during election time. These actions are clearly no more than an attempt to get their side out to the people at the expense of the people. So what do I think should happen. In all honest I believe the Congressman should pay these employees out of his campaign fund if he runs out of Congressional funds to do so. If that cant be done, then they unfortunately have to be let go. That is what happens daily in the real world and members of Congress are not exempt from this. Perhaps it will be a lesson to them that keeping their constituents informed throughout their term instead of only at election time goes a long way. Please follow up on this story an keep us advised as to its outcome.
By jk floyd
August 6, 2008 12:53 AM | Link to this
The sad thing is that about 99% of the people who vote in the general election - either FOR or AGAINST Broun, will never know about this. Why? Because his opponent doesn’t have thousands of federal dollars to wastefully pay for HIS/HER mailings…. Our congress is so far removed from the lives of their constituents that I am afraid we are in our last days as a great nation ( see the roman empire )…..