LegiStorm Tells All About Congressional Salaries, Personal Finances

Web site gives full financial disclosure

Bob Corker

Congressional salaries are public information. However, that doesn’t stop Capitol Hill staffers from ranting and raving about Legistorm.com, a web site that makes it a snap to find out how much Sen. Bob Corker makes.

It’s $179,000 per year, by the way.

Making life easier

Yes, it’s true that we have always had the right to know how much public officials spend on trips and what their investment portfolio looks like. However, that used to mean sitting in a dusty office on Capitol Hill and pouring over tiny type for hours.

Now, through the magic of the Internet, it’s all on LegiStorm for journalists and conspiracy theorists and anyone who’s curious to see, instantly. If one of your leaders has taken out payday loans lately, you can find out. It’s all there. Tax information, spouse’s salary, you name it. And, boy, are our country’s representatives mad.

The man behind the mayhem

Jock Friedly created LegiStorm, and everyone from your state representative to the White House doctor has been after his head since. Hillary Clinton filed for an extension on her 2008 taxes, by the way.

Friedly calls himself the “transparency’s sidekick,” and that self-appointed office has gotten him more than a few strongly worded e-mails from Congressional staffers. One Congressman’s chief of staff says Friedly is a “peeping tom” conducting a “witch hunt.” ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "LegiStorm Tells All About Congressional Salaries, Personal Finances"