We haven't taken a peek at the salaries of New Mexico's top staffers in DC in a while so with the help of a Senior Alligator here we go.

Scott Forrester, chief of staff to ABQ Dem Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury and who held the position of district director under former ABQ US Rep. Deb Haaland, appears to be the highest paid among the staff heavies. 

Forrester's precise pay isn't listed but given as a range of $152,000 to $169,000 a year. On top of that Forrester, a former political consultant, currently earns about $900 a month for working on Stansbury's re-election campaign. That used to be a prohibited practice. Even though it is now allowed it is unusual for a staff chief to do paid campaign work. Current records do not show any other of the chiefs to be drawing a salary from a campaign.

Forrester works at the ABQ district office, instead of in DC, another departure from tradition for a chief of staff.  

Stansbury and other rank and file members of Congress make $174,000 a year, a rate that hasn't changed since the Great Recession struck in 2009 and members held back on pay hikes. 

Rep. Stansbury, who was a consultant on natural resources issues before going to the US House, took advantage of a little used law to give herself a pay day when she first sought election. As a candidate for the congressional seat in the June 2020 special election to replace Deb Haaland, who had been appointed Sec. of Interior, Stansbury gave herself a salary from campaign funds that totaled $3,600 for the short campaign. 

Congressional candidates can draw a salary from campaign money but not incumbents. 

Several Republicans are running for Stansbury's congressional seat that now dips into SE NM as well as the ABQ metro. The favorite for the GOP nomination is Louis Sanchez who previously made a run for the GOP Senate nomination and who ran and then dropped out of this year's race for Governor. Stansbury remains favored in the November election. 

Records our Senior Gator checked also show that Ben Ray Lujan Chief of Staff, Carolos Sanchez, is paid about $166,000 per year; the staff chief for Sen. Heinrich makes about $164,000 and the staff chief for US Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez earns around $133,000. 

Last in line in for chief of staff pay for the congressional delegation is Michael Horanburg from the office of GOP US Rep. Yvette Herrell who earns about $124,000. 

DC staffers until recently were not allowed to make more than the $174,000 paid to their boss but that was changed to allow them to earn as much as $199,000 because leadership believed they would lose talent if pay rates stayed frozen. 

FUNDRAISING HALT

One of the downsides of a special session for the state House candidates on the campaign trail is the required halt in fundraising. The fund-raising ban begins when MLG issues her proclamation for the April 5 session and ends when lawmakers adjourn. That's a relatively short period of time but with many contested Dem June primaries the pause will be felt. As for the candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor  their blackout period extends until 20 days after the session ends. 

GO BIG

A reader writes of the debate over how much those planned rebate checks should be for New Mexico residents and that will be on the special session agenda:

This is the time when the state has all that money to go big. After what people have been through with the pandemic, inflation and now high gas prices, give to the citizens. We have the money. MLG needs to go big or go home. It could make the difference in being re-elected or not. She’s not all that popular.

HOW MUCH?

Reader Tom Miles writes of our report last week revealing more overtime abuse at APD with one officer who has since been fired--receiving over $242,000 in annual pay:

In addition to your great piece on police overtime, it would be cool to have a companion piece on the taxpayer-funded citizen APD/BernCo Sheriff lawsuit payouts. It all adds up and should somehow be remediable with some brass-ball clear thinking and acting, no? Those dollars could surely be put to better use supporting needy citizens, homelessness and business development. 

To be clear, it was TV news that broke the latest case of outrageous overtime and we followed up. 

And yes, Tom, it is time for an update on how much APD and BernCo have paid out recently for lawsuit settlements for law enforcement misconduct. We'll check. 

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