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Capitol Salary Snoopers Crash Web Site
by Heather Greenfield
Problems that led to the crash of a new Internet site that charts Capitol Hill staff salaries have been fixed, according to Jock Friedly, the founder and president of LegiStorm. LegiStorm crashed due to heavy traffic Sept. 18, a few hours after its launch.
What could be more interesting than finding out whether Senate Commerce Committee Majority Staff Director Lisa Sutherland makes more than Minority Staff Director Margaret Cummisky? Apparently not much -- though according to the site both were paid the same $162,000, which appears to be at the top of the congressional limit.
"We knew it was going to be popular, but we didn't expect this," Friedly said, explaining that "thousands of Hill staff and others all at once decided to look at the site" and then stayed on it for hours. "We've had thousands of page views this week," he said.
Friedly said the site has been reconfigured to handle the traffic. Legislative salaries always have been publicly available but previously required a trip to a Capitol Hill basement room to look through a book. Now some chiefs of staff are worrying as much about pending salary discussions as they are the flurry of pending legislation.
"On the Hill there is a lot of nervousness," Friedly said. "A lot of chiefs of staff are not looking forward to questions by constituents [about] why so-and-so is making this much money."
Friedly said he got the idea to put the salary information on a Web site because he used to rely on it as an investigative reporter for The Hill newspaper. He wrote many stories where pay was of some relevance.
The new site drew instant praise on Web logs like Publius' Forum and Right Voices. Wonkette predicted that the site will change who buys beer at congressional happy hours.
The Bond That Ties The Tech Industry
Phil Bond, the president of the Information Technology Association of America, "was tech before tech was cool," Gloria Dittus, president of Dittus Communications, said during a reception at her home in Washington's tony Kalorama neighborhood to celebrate Bond's new assignment.
Bond is the former technology undersecretary at the Commerce Department and spent the past year at Monster Worldwide as senior vice president of government relations. Monster Worldwide owns the online recruiting firm Monster.com.
Dittus co-hosted the party along with several longtime friends and perhaps future competitors or allies of Bond. They included Rhett Dawson, president of the Information Technology Industry Council, where Bond once worked, and Business Software Alliance President Robert Holleyman.
Bond said the party was a bit of a reunion with former colleagues from Commerce and the office of former Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash. Bond was Dunn's chief of staff in 1992.
"It's exciting to be doing this in America, the innovation capitol of the world," Bond said of his new job advocating for the tech industry.
Rep. Boehlert Promotes Science Panel Aides
Two House Science Committee staffers are leaving months before Chairman Sherwood Boehlert retires, paving the way for two promotions on the remaining staff.
Boehlert, R-N.Y., has promoted two staff members to replace the outgoing subcommittee staff directors. Dahlia Sokolov will become staff director of the Energy Subcommittee, while Johannes Loschnigg will hold the same post at the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.
Sokolov originally joined the Energy Subcommittee as an American Institute of Physics congressional fellow in the fall of 2004 and was hired as a professional staffer the following summer. In her new capacity, Sokolov will oversee all subcommittee activities while specializing in nuclear energy research and development, energy efficiency, and renewable energy issues.
Sokolov replaces Kevin Carroll, who accepted a position at the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Loschnigg first came to Capitol Hill in 2002 as an American Association for the Advancement of Science congressional science and technology policy fellow. He was hired as a professional staffer in May 2004. Loschnigg now will oversee all subcommittee activities and focus on oversight of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Loschnigg replaces Bill Adkins, who left the subcommittee to start a space consulting business.
Preaching Privacy, If Not Practicing It
Do good privacy practices really begin at home? That may be a question for Hewlett-Packard as it seeks nominations for a privacy award it is co-sponsoring. The company is under federal investigation for spying on board members, employees and journalists.
Hewlett-Packard is not a judge, but it is co-sponsoring the fourth annual HP/IAPP Privacy Awards along with the International Association of Privacy Professionals. The sponsors ask for nominations to honor "strong and unique contributions to the privacy industry." Previous winners have included the eBay online auction site, Microsoft and Sprint Nextel.
Former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, who resigned last week in the wake of the company spying scandal, is expected to testify at a House Energy and Commerce hearing this week on tactics the company used to investigate internal information leaks.
Blog Scandal In Minnesota
Minnesota newsreports say the FBI is reviewing a controversy that began when a blogger discovered a campaign advertisement for Rep. Mark Kennedy, R-Minn., and forwarded it to his opponent's campaign.
Blogger Noah Kunin, 24, said he was searching the Web for political ads. He was on a Web site for Republican media consultant Scott Howell and from there clicked on "Net View." When asked for a password, he guessed -- and guessed right.
Kunin said he was actually searching for ads Howell did for another client, Sen. George Allen, R-Va., when he found the Kennedy spot. Kunin reportedly then forwarded the ad to Tara McGuinness, the communications director for Democrat Amy Klobuchar. Campaign director Ben Goldfarb said McGuiness should have known not to view the ad or show it to others.
Republican blogs like RedState have been calling it a case of cyber burglary and have asked that Klobuchar fire anyone else who viewed the ad.
A poll conducted for the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs showed Klobuchar leading in the open Senate race 52 percent to 36 percent. The poll was taken in mid-September before McGuinness was fired.
At the TPMCafe blog, Matt Corley said, "There's little question that the GOP thinks they've finally found the opening they've been waiting for to make this race competitive again. Stay tuned."
Quote Of The Week
"There's no way you can appease these people. It's a fetish -- it's really something that doesn't exist. But they want to stop this bill because it might exist."
-- Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, responding to a question about whether he might alter his telecom bill to strengthen language on network neutrality in an effort to move his legislation.
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