LegiStorm 4| Join in the Fun

How-to guide for the site

Maxine Waters

Now that I have hopefully intrigued you with tales of LegiStorm’s expert sleuthing abilities, it is time for you to learn to make the most of this trove of information.

The next few articles in this series will walk you through different parts of LegiStorm.com as a tutorial for how to use the site to find the information you want. Whether you want to read about a Senator’s personal loans or Agriculture Department salaries, it’s all there.

Home page

When you first log on to LegiStorm, the front page contains political news that shows how LegiStorm has been used recently. I recommend that you do not skip past this part, as it contains tidbits of entertaining, and sometimes infuriating, news about political figures looking like fools.

In hot water

For instance, the front page at LegiStorm.com today reveals that Rep. Maxine Waters owns stock in OneUnited Bank. Furthermore, her husband has been a director there. Based on this, it is not surprising that Waters has defended the company in many cases. Conflict of interest much?

Congressional pay scale

The first section of LegiStorm is dedicated to Congressional salaries. You can browse using the following categories: Staffer, Representative, Senator, Committee, Leadership Office, Admin Office and State. Once  you pick a category you can search for names and titles. It lists current and former office holders.

Six figures

The base salary for a state senator right now is $174,000 per year. If you check out an individual it will also show to the total salary paid to that leader’s staff. If you click on a time period, you can find out the pay for everyone who works for that leader, from the scheduler who makes about $5,000 per year, to the legislative director who makes more than $120,000. ... click here to read the rest of the article titled "LegiStorm 4| Join in the Fun"