The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1950-01-03
PAY ROLL PADDING IN WASHINGTON
If Congressional committees ever try

to ferret out all the facts about payroll
padding on Capitol Hill they won't have
an easy time. Most of the information abb
out salaries there is readily available But
the really hot stuff is buried.
Interest in the subject was aroused
when former Rep. j. Parnell Thomas went
to jail for pocketing money ostensibly GO
ing to employees of his office. Rep. Bur-
dick lR-N. d. happened to be in his
home district about the time Thomas en-
tered the clink and was shocked to find
that folks out there were wondering just
how many other members of the national
legislature were dishonest.
He demanded that Congress make a
thorough investigation to weed out any
other payroll manipulators and clear Con-
gress' name.
"The overwhelming majority of the
members are honest" said Burdick. "But
the crooks have done more damage than
Communists could have done in 20 years"
Thomas was once chairman of the House
Committee on Unamerican Activities.)
At first glance it would appear simple
to find out who is getting away with pay
roll padding. On the House side of the
Capitol photostatic copy of the entire
payroll is publicly available each month.
The name of each clerk, secretary, adj
ministrative assistant or other employee APP
pears along with his salary. The record
shows in which committee or congress
mans office he or she works.
If you smell something fishy about
some of the entries, you can go to the of
flee in question and ask if so-and-so works
there. If he isn't there, other employees or
the congressman might explain that he is
doing some research at the Congressional
Library, is i'll at home, is on vacation or
works in the congressmans office in his
home town. All of which might be quite
true.
If you find so-and-so actually working
there, you have no assurance that he and
the rest of the employees there are not kick
ing back part of their salaries to the con-
gresham.
The correct answers might be obtain
ed by an ivestigating committee Committee
witnesses must testify under oath, But old
timers on the Hill say an investigation
would be painful proceeding to many
members, and they'll bet 10 to one that the
matter will never reach the investigating
stage.
The Senate is not quite so frank about
publishing it's payroll as the House. 1t is
made public only once year, and there
is an important omission. The Senate does
not publish names and salaries of employ
es of particular senator's There is a break
down by committee, but not by senator's
offices
No one from all those questioned
was able to explain why this was done But
one seasoned official of the Senate said ne
believed it was just a matter of personnel
policy in the offices The senators didn't
want their employees to know that other
employees were making In the matter of
their own expense allowances, the sena-
tors incidentally, are somewhat more gen
erous to themselves than the representa-
tives are.
"a Members of both bodies have voted
themselves substantial allowances in addi-
ton to $2,500-a-year tax-free expense al
lowances.
On the House side every member is
given flat sum of $500 each fiscal year for
stationery and another $500 for kilograms
and long distance telephone calls The
senators get $500 year for stationery, can
send any number of official kilograms, and
may make so free long distance telephone
calls month. Both senators and congress
men get mileage allowance to and from
Washington. Their expenses are paid on
official trips abroad.