Several Wisconsin congressmen gave tax-funded bonuses to their staffs during the end of 2008, according to a watchdog group.
When a congressional office has a surplus of funds, it can either spend them or relinquish them, and most Wisconsin federal lawmakers spent that surplus in the form of bonuses for employees, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday.
U.S. Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Gwen Moore, D-Wis., Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Tom Petri, R-Wis., increased payrolls by more than 20 percent. Petri spent over $100,000 on bonuses and raised salaries by as much as $14,000 per staffer, according to databases compiled by LegiStorm, a watchdog website that works toward transparency in Congress.
According to a statement from LegiStorm, bonuses are not uncommon for congressional staff but lawmakers seemed to reward their staff in record numbers in 2008 and the average staffer was paid 17 percent more in the last 3 months of 2008 than the rest of the year.
Niel Wright, spokesperson for Petri, said the bonuses were merely ""salary adjustments"" made within a previously allotted budget.
""Rep. Petri tries to economize in spending in general early in the year in order to make sure that all bills are paid. Later in the year when it's clear that the office is on budget, he can readjust the salaries to make sure that everybody is paid at a rate comparable to other staffers in Congress who have similar experience and skills,"" he said.
Similarly, Baldwin spokesperson Jerilyn Goodman said after budgeting for staff salaries, roughly $3,000 per staffer is left over at the end of the year.
""After all constituent services have been covered, we review the budget to determine whether sufficient funds are still available to pay the full budgeted compensation. If so, the payment is made at the end of the year, typically in a single lump sum payment,"" she said.
U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and U.S. Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wis., both have a long-standing policy of not awarding bonuses.
""It's always been his policy,"" Feingold spokesperson Zach Lowe said of the senator.
