Tag: congress

Salary Capitol

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Politico reports this morning that almost 2,000 folks working in House offices on Capitol Hill make six figures a year – and that doesn’t include the House Members themselves.  That’s a small slice of the folks working on the Hill, so it’s not like working in Congress automatically means you’re big pimpin’ and/or spendin’ cheese.  But the explanation from the Chief Administrative Office is somewhat amusing (emphasis added):

“Staff are compensated appropriately according to their skill sets, length of career within the CAO … and in direct relation to the salary grade similar professional credentials could achieve in the executive branch or in the private sector in a major metropolitan area like Washington, D.C.,” said CAO spokesman Jeff Ventura. “Salaries are designed to retain the talent necessary to successfully maintain operations of the House of Representatives.”

Sometimes design doesn’t equal results.  Not to say that the folks making this money don’t deserve it – considering they frequently work 20-hour days, spend lots of time away from their families, and have to be on call nearly 24 hours a day.  But finding “the talent necessary to successful maintain” Congress isn’t a matter of salary – it’s a matter of votes.

Like a digital town meeting where everyone is screaming

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The House email system has crashed, choked by the influx of emails on health care.  Sadly, this is about the worst way to contact your Member of Congress.

Email lets you communicate very easily with your elected representatives, but it also lets everyone else communicate with them just as easily.  Layered on top of that is the fact that some folks who run grassroots campaigns don’t understand this, and will target Members of Congress for floods of form emails.  And the increase in communication thanks to 2009 technology is going to offices with 1979 staffing models.

So, knowing it’s easy to send an email and the cheapest avenue for a grassroots campaign to generate large amounts of contact, would you pay attention to it if you were a Congressional staffer?

Faux-miliarity

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Growing up, there were certain television personalities that were so familiar they seemed like family. Johnny Carson was one of these – I distinctly remember one of the few times I saw the Tonight Show when I was in elementary school, thinking that it wouldn’t be odd to run into Johnny Carson at one of my grandfather’s St. Patrick’s Day parties. I bet many people felt that way about Carson – and about Ronald Reagan, too, which as big a reason as anything for his political success.

That type of connection is hard to forge, and the bond is strong enough to withstand quite a bit of stress – which is why folks who wouldn’t otherwise agree with conservative policies voted for Reagan, and why Carson was the King of Late Night even if a joke fell flat now and then.

I thought of this when I read Judith Warner’s Friday blog post at the New York Times. Warner recounts several anecdotes from people who share that level of false familiarity with Barack Obama and his family. From folks who feel a jealous respect for Obama’s accomplishments to those that think about the activities of first family just a little too much, there’s a similar connection that Carson and Reagan enjoyed.

Immediately, this has ramifications on the debate over the stimulus package – the bipartisan opponents will have a better chance of defeating something if they can hang it on the “Democrats” in general rather than on a popular and apparently approachable President. Long term, it means that defeating one unpopular bill will not completely turn the tables, and that opponents of the President’s agenda won’t carry as much momentum from one victory into the next battle.

Even when Johnny Carson bombed, people still tuned in the next night, ready to laugh.

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Thanks, Washington!

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Recent comments on the economy have shown just how much confidence we can place in our representatives. There are lots of companies out there that are failing or in debt because of irresponsible spending. Now that those companies are being supported by the taxpayers, President Obama and his pals are setting strict regulations – for instance, the people who caused this mess aren’t allowed to give themselves raises. And they’ve come out strongly against those fancy “retreats” that are really just subsidized vacations.

It’s good to see that folks with business sense are making decisions on the economic recovery.

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Post-partisanship means never

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The morning news was abuzz with video of President Obama’s reactions to accusations that his “stimulus bill” is just a pork spending bill: “What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point.”

That’s refreshing honesty, and it would have been nice to hear the same candor last year when he promised to work with Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Though there have been attempts by moderate Senators from both parties to reach across the aisle, Obama’s team of die-hards see no reason to engage in such niceties.

This may be a departure from campaign rhetoric, but it is consistent with Obama’s “I won, you lost, I make the rules” brand of “cooperation”over the last two weeks. Despite the misgivings of fiscally responsible Democrats, he has a big enough cadre of his own team behind him and eager to push out a bill. “Has bipartisanship been a failure? So far it isn’t working,” claimed Chuck Schumer. The left has enough votes that they don’t need moderates and conservatives.

Obama remarked last night that the American people didn’t vote for “petty politics.” It sounds like we’re getting that anyway.

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