Levin, Miller take distinct approaches to staff bonuses

Figures compiled by LegiStorm.com reveal a distinct difference between Macomb County’s two congressional representatives in the way they handle bonuses for staffers.

Congressman Sandy Levin is fairly typical – handing out year-end bonus pay of 14.4 percent, on average, to his staff members last December.

Congresswoman Candy Miller is fairly unique – she doesn’t give out bonuses.

“This is Macomb County. People are still struggling here,” she said in an interview at her district office in Shelby Township. “I expect my people to work hard. I expect them to do their job well. But I don’t do bonuses.”

House staffers typically get bonuses at the end of the year depending on how much is left in the office budget, but on average in 2012 those raises were “just” 16.4 percent for Republicans and 15.1 percent for Democrats.

For Levin, a Royal Oak Democrat who represents most of Macomb County, the bonuses cost a combined $42,872, according to Legistorm.

As for Miller, a Harrison Township Republican, her average staff salary declined in the fourth quarter of 2012, though her total office payroll rose by $8,764, apparently due to some staff realignment.

LegiStorm stirred things up last week when it revealed that two of the most prominent tea party congressional candidates who lost in 2012, Todd Akin and Allen West, dished out huge bonusesto their staffers before heading out the door. Akin topped the House list for average salary paid in 2012, at $121,000.

Though Akin and West in the House routinely called for substantial cuts in federal spending, particularly cutbacks in programs for the poor, they both found it reasonable to double the pay for their staffs. Akin and West were also among those who downplayed the impact of the sequester cuts and the subsequent furloughs -- 20 percent pay cuts that will be suffered by federal workers over a 22-week period.

Meanwhile, LegiStorm is creating quite a firestorm on Capitol Hill. Beyond exposing staffers’ salaries and bonuses, LegiStorm has gotten up close and personal.

According to a report in Politico, LegiStorm publicized the online tool StormFeed, a “real-time, full-text searchable access to every official press release and official tweet from Capitol Hill plus the tweets of thousands of congressional staffers,” according to a release. It’s a web page available for members of the subscription service LegiStorm Pro.