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Jamie Dupree's Washington Insider

Posted: 8:55 p.m. Monday, Nov. 30, 2009

Statement of Disbursements 

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By Jamie Dupree

"Statement of Disbursements" is the official sounding name for a document that details most every office expense racked up by members of Congress, its committees and leaders.  Now it is online and available for download to your computer.

Yep, you can download the huge file at http://bit.ly/7BOh9k and leaf through the 3,404 pages yourself. 

It's somewhat mind bending at first, but if you know what you're looking for, you can certainly find some interesting items, some of which might - or might not - turn into real news stories.

What you will see first is a listing of the staff members who serve on the payroll of a U.S. House member.  Then there is a rundown of office and travel expenses for the staff and the lawmaker.

This edition covers the third quarter of this year.

So, for example, let's look at the office of Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).  On page 1566, you will find that he paid $695.12 for "Automobile Leases" for example.

Then there is a string of charges for "Commercial Transportation" which is probably plane flights to and from Washington.  They total everything from $172.60 to $586.20.

Looking through the salaries is always interesting, because you can immediately find out who the best paid employee is in any given office.  And that gives you an easy way to figure out how the Office Totem Pole is arranged, without having to work in that office.

It also lets you see who is getting paid by different offices.

For example, Karen Lightfoot works for Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA).  On page 2690, you can see that she was paid to be Waxman's Communications Director.

Then you can check page 2817, and see that Lightfoot is also paid by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the panel that Waxman chairs.  There she is a Communications Director/Senior Policy Advisor.

It may sound odd, but this is not an uncommon arrangement, where lawmakers are able to pay staffers a little out of their regular office account, and then more from a committee they serve on.

For example, there is William Kahrs, who is the Chief of Staff to Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS).  Kahrs doesn't make very much for that as you can find on page 2595, but he gets four times that rate from the House Appropriations Committee, where he serves as an Assistant to Tiahrt (page 2777).

This volume of information lists all kinds of items for staffers like their travel reimbursements, mileage driven on their own private vehicles, gasoline, car rentals, hotels, taxis, etc.

How well is that money spent?  Download the report and look up your own member of Congress.  You have the ultimate oversight opportunity.

And report back if you see anything seems odd.

 
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