Additional cash for staffers

The Hill reported on Tuesday that at least 17 lawmakers have recently paid staff in their congressional offices to do part-time campaign work on the side.

Staffers on Capitol Hill work hard, and many are underpaid. Supplementing their income with payments from campaign accounts makes a lot of sense.

Government watchdogs are usually quick to raise questions about double-dipping payment arrangements.

But Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Campaign Legal Center, said, “Given the pay scales in Washington, it’s a realist means of trying to keep good staff on the Hill.”

She rightly notes that these types of payments deserve extra scrutiny and provide incumbents with an advantage.

Yet there is nothing untoward or illegal about using campaign funds to boost staffer salaries.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) “believes that congressional staff are underpaid given their high level of skills and their extremely hard work, so he doesn’t ask them to do campaign work without compensation,” according to Frank’s spokesman.

The Hill reported that nine chiefs of staff have had their wages supplemented for part-time work this year, including several aides who make the maximum ($168,411 annually) under House rules.

Talented congressional aides are always on demand on K Street, where the salaries are much more than anything lawmakers can pay.

Certainly, many top staffers (and lawmakers) leave Capitol Hill for the lobbying industry. There is nothing wrong with that, because K Street firms expect a lot when they make big hires. If the market makes them wealthy, so be it.

It is important to keep smart people working in Congress as long as possible.

The 111th Congress is working to boost the economy, create more jobs, develop remedies to prevent another financial meltdown, overhaul the nation’s healthcare system and much, much more. These are not small issues and have to be dealt with carefully and intelligently, not by inexperienced staffers still learning how Washington works.

Amid the ailing economy over the last couple of years, lawmakers have been wary of giving themselves a raise. Even giving themselves a cost-of-living hike has been a huge political football.

This newspaper has long supported lifting the salaries of members.

There are so many aspects of politics that cause would-be candidates to pass up running for political office. Members should not be making $1 million a year, but their pay should be bumped.

And more lawmakers should consider using their campaign accounts to retain their talented staff.