Capitol staffers get their own pay raise

Jan Murphy in the Patriot has a look at big pay increases, and big salaries for some legislative staffers following the end of bonuses. While Eric Epstein points notes that "I don't know of any other profession where an employee makes more than the employer," he is clearly mistaken.

Professional athletes earn more than coaches, some faculty (and football coaches) make more than university presidents, brain surgeons make more than hospital administrators, and some computer programmers and engineers earn more than management.

The question of course, is whether all of these highly paid legislative staffers have the technical expertise or talent that merit their pay - or if they earned it due to political ties. Further questions include whether PA needs 3,000 legislative staffers - considering most (and most of the high earners) are concentrated in the offices of legislative leaders - and why, like university faculty, some seem to have tenure, given the bad advice they have give out lately:

"The pay raise will blow over."
"Act 44 will win federal approval."
"Pay us big bonuses, it's legal."