In a sign of just how wayward things are in the AssGOP, a veteran GOP leadership staffer has reportedly accepted a job working for the Democrats. This is perhaps the funniest thing since a former Lazich staffer went to work for Jon Erpenbach after reportedly being called "retarded" by her old boss. You know, the one that people around the building call "Crazy Mary."
Surely, some will scream RINO, but let's face it. As many AssGOP staffers are quickly learning, their job skills are fairly specialized (read: irrelevant) in the real world. Nobody's hiring Republican lobbyists. Things like bill drafting and committee clerking aren't super usable outside the Marble Bigtop. And the Republicans probably aren't coming back into power anytime soon. If you can improve your job security and maybe score a raise by trading your red jersey in for a blue jersey, more power to you.
Meanwhile, in other news, the AssGOP leadership continues to struggle in finding half-time positions for all the party girls and night managers at fast-casual restaurants. For those of us who were hoping for some signs of self-awareness and acknowledgment of past failures, the new AssGOP is off to a bad, bad start.
Surely, some will scream RINO, but let's face it. As many AssGOP staffers are quickly learning, their job skills are fairly specialized (read: irrelevant) in the real world. Nobody's hiring Republican lobbyists. Things like bill drafting and committee clerking aren't super usable outside the Marble Bigtop. And the Republicans probably aren't coming back into power anytime soon. If you can improve your job security and maybe score a raise by trading your red jersey in for a blue jersey, more power to you.
Meanwhile, in other news, the AssGOP leadership continues to struggle in finding half-time positions for all the party girls and night managers at fast-casual restaurants. For those of us who were hoping for some signs of self-awareness and acknowledgment of past failures, the new AssGOP is off to a bad, bad start.
18 comments:
Congrats - you've been picked up by the JSOnline.com crew...
Tell us more about the party girls.
I'm afraid that will have to wait for the subscribers version of the blog that I am too lazy to start.
Suffice it to say that there are always girls around the Capitol who figure out that opening their legs is a great way to endear themselves to those who they think can help them out.
If only they realized most of those guys were powerless, yet all too happy to avail themselves of some easy tail...
The best part is that when I write obliquely about them, like in the last paragraph, I hear from people in the building that they can't figure out that I'm writing about them. Dumb bitches.
Hey, a few months of pseudo-prostitution (i.e. campaign work) to keep a cushy, show up for work if you want, surf the internet all day, do nothing, two year job...no experience or skills necessary...where do I sign up??? And these are the fiscal conservatives?
It is funny that the staff for many of the so-called fiscal conservatives have some of the laziest, do-nothing, don't show up for work staffers in the building. Funny how their bosses talk such a big game and then put up with their staff doing three-day work weeks.
Sounds like the RS is bitter about not getting any during his lackluster stint in the 'Marble Bigtop'. Sour grapes are so unappealing, but then that's what this blog is mostly about isn't it.
Hahahaha. Yes, I'm very bitter that I was able to use the Capitol for four years to pay my bills while developing skills that could get me employment in a better career field outside the building. That I could do my work in about half the time of most staffers meant I could manage my other career at my desk. Huge productivity bump there. Good thing the bar's so low in that building.
I never played softball, never got trashed after work, never cheated on my pregnant wife, never had to f@#$ leadership staffers in the hopes that maybe they'd find me another half-time position. And I cashed out my chips right before everything started going to hell.
I came on my own terms, worked on my own terms, and left on my own terms. And now I work about 20 hours a week for 42 weeks a year and still make more than 75% of the people in that place.
Yep, sour grapes all right. Are you kidding? I am the happiest ex-staffer on the planet!
"As many AssGOP staffers are quickly learning, their job skills are fairly specialized (read: irrelevant) in the real world."
YET then you say at your capitol job you were "developing skills that could get me employment in a better career field outside the building."
Contradiction? Or are you just that more special?
Sorry if I was unclear. I had another job outside of the Capitol.
I am curious how much they make in these positions. If they are only required to read and decipher all the material that the official doesn't have time to then it would seem as you say a fairly cushy job. The power would be that indeed they are the ones that understand the legislation and not the official.
When you refer to the leadership of the Repubs, who are you referring to? Caucus leaders or minority leaders or all of the above?
Wow, the Capitol pay system. Talk about opening Pandora's box...
Assembly staff are generally broken into three categories: Legislative Assistant, Research Assistant, and Administrative Assistant. Everyone has an LA. The senior person in a two-person office is an RA, and AA positions are generally found only in leadership offices. Each position has a pay band - a theoretical minimum and maximum. An individual is placed within that band initially based on education and relevant work experience, though people soon figure out that gratuitous ass-kissing of leadership moves you up the ranks faster than hard work.
There's also a process called redlining, by which a staffer in an RA or AA position can move down in rank while retaining their salary. This can be an okay thing - many freshmen need the guidance of senior staff, just in terms of figuring out how things work. This is the only way to make that happen.
Problem comes when people in AA positions (like leadership staff) move permanently into LA and RA slots. Huebsch's top two staffers are both pulling in over the $70K. The chief of staff makes around $90 (sorry, my salary charts about six months old. You can file an open records request for this information though.).
So in theory, you can have a $90K former AA doing the same RA work as someone making $40K a year, even though both have the same amount of education and work experience. That causes a great deal of resentment within the building, since employees (and even individual legislators) often have very little power in terms of adjusting compensation to appropriate levels.
The system is basically designed to prevent the party-in-power from using wage to abuse the party out-of-power. While the Democrats could adjust the redlining of some Republican staffers, the system is designed to prevent the majority party from, say, slashing minority party salaries in half. The downside is that, unlike the Senate, there's very little flexibility, which means that few people are really being paid what they're worth.
I'd say that a median figure for staff salaries is probably around $40-45K a year, within a band that can range from around $30K to over $90K. Most people are bunched up near the lower end of that spectrum.
Now that this particular staffer is no longer in the caucus, and with her the last remants of David Ward, can we PLEASE stop listening to Ward for electoral advice?
Yeah, no kidding. Who is the bigger reason we're down those two rural seats east of Madison: Dave Ward or Debi Towns?
East of Madison? Ward was sticking his nose in the Garthwaite race as well. He's always thought of himself as the Godfather of Platteville.
More like Freddo if you ask me...
Who are "WE"?
I have been reading here for a while and even though RS goes for extended periods without posting, I still check it often.
I have never felt a real partisan structure to this blog but will assume that "WE" are Republicans, although very open minded ones.
I have also been curious since the caucus scandal to ask someone in the know if things have really changed or what have they done to get around the new rules?
You could never take reelection off the table as an issue in a political job, no matter how hard one would try.
Most of the blatant offenses that used to occur (staff assembling mailings and developing literature while on the clock, people raising money from their leggie offices, etc.) have been virtually eradicated.
I'm not saying nothing political ever happens there. But the systematic use of state resources to run the political machines has more or less ended.
RS, since you're being unusually generous in this post in giving meaty tidbits, can you tell us why Ward so suddenly up and quit?
You know, a lot of legislative careers peak at some point, and the question is always what one does after that peak has been reached.
Ward made it all the way to Vice Chair of JFC, but then got passed over for Co-Chair by Gard when Gard became Speaker. Really, where was Ward supposed to go beyond that?
I'll give the guy credit. An opportunity presented itself to turn his legislative career into something long-term (and probably better paying) outside the building, and he took it. That's smart.
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