Mike Causey

Lame Ducks Hatch Big Bonus Eggs!

Working on Capitol Hill often means being on call 14 hours day, 6-days a week. And the financial rewards are low unless your boss is defeated for reelection. Se...

Federal News Network Staff

March 10, 2011 4:00 am

3 min read

Working on Capitol Hill can be fun, exciting but not financially rewarding: Unless your boss loses, or retires. Then, well, read on…

Toiling in the legislative branch isn’t about money, although some career politicians have, somehow, managed to amass great wealth, yachts and property despite the low-6 figure salaries which are lower than the pay of some state and local government department heads.

Being part of the support staff is different. And sometimes difficult.

Aides to elected officials and committee staffers generally work at a fast pace and get involved in some very important issues. They are also sometimes drafted to baby sit, drop off dry cleaning and, uh, research what many suspect are homework assignments and term papers.

But life in Congress, especially for staffers, is fast-paced. Many people in the private sector, who think the government is a slow-motion operation, probably couldn’t make it for long working on Capitol Hill.

Because of the pace and pressure of serving Representatives and Senators, there is a high burn-out rate among congressional staffers. Many congressional workers eventually move “downtown” to executive branch agencies where the pace (they assume and hope) isn’t as frantic. Also job security, which is nonexistent for congressional staffers, is another important reason for moving from the Hill to the Federal Triangle region.

Oh, and some members of Congress can be incredibly cheap.

Many high-profile politicians, especially on the Senate side, with oversized egos (which takes in a LOT of people) believe that working for them is its own reward. Some pay much less than top dollar and expect relatively low-paid staffers to relish the 14 hours days.

But even the most frugal of politicians tend to get generous when they are defeated and or retire.

According to Legistorm (which tracks Congress) almost one in every 10 House members gave some staffers 6-figure bonuses following last year’s election. Legistorm says the most generous (with your money) bonus-givers were mostly Democrats who lost or retired.

Earlier the Wall Street Journal had noted the swan song bonus phenomenon. Very interesting…

That’s something incumbents who plan to run again in 2012 should keep in mind. Are they sending their hard-pressed, highly-stressed staffers a message that losing is sometimes a winning proposition?

NARFE Changes

Richard Thissen, midwest regional vice president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees association is the new national treasurer of the NARFE. He succeeds the very popular Charles Saylor who died Monday. Mr. Saylor had been Maryland State Federation President of NARFE before being elected to national office.

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

Nearly Useless Factoid
by Suzanne Kubota

The windows in air traffic control towers aren’t slanted because of lights outside the tower. “By tilting the glass away,” explains LifesLittleMysteries, “any errant light from inside the tower (such as video screens, lights, etc.) are reflected up onto the ceiling, which is painted black.”

MORE FROM FEDERAL NEWS RADIO

OPM, Republicans spar over federal pay
OPM Director John Berry pushed back against claims from members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that federal employees are overpaid.

Pay debate turns to state, local employees
States are targeting generous retirement benefits to public employees. In one case, a former local administrator in California is receiving nearly $520,000 in pensions.