Senate Staff Salaries Online!

Anthony Pignataro: Exciting, isn’t it? Well, to us wonkish, nerdish reporters, it is. Yes, folks, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg has agreed to post a 22-page PDF spreadsheet listing the salaries of all Senate staffers, right there real prominent-like on the Senate website (see it there at the bottom?).

With this list, you can quickly find that, say, Kernan “Kip” Lipper — Steinberg’s Executive Staff Director who is so powerful that he’s often called the “41st senator” — brings in $13,764 a month. Or that Joanna Manzano, an intern at something called the “Secretary Senate/Desk” makes the slightly smaller figure of $800 a month.

Of course, the list itemizes only salaries — no pensions or benefits here, folks. And currently, it’s just the Senate. As for when the Assembly might follow with its own staff accounting, you guess is as good as anyone’s: that’s because the Assembly is trying to pass a law (rather than just a rule, which is what the Senate did) mandating disclosure. And you know how good they are at that this time of year…

Posted Aug. 30, 2010