"House GOP cuts spending on policy staff, boosts spending on PR and spin"

[applegrove]

House GOP cuts spending on policy staff, boosts spending on PR and spin

by Jed Lewison at the Daily Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/02/1310981/-House-GOP-cuts-spending-on-policy-staff-boosts-spending-on-PR-and-spin

"SNIP.....................



Since Republicans took control of the U.S. House in January 2011, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has led a cost-cutting effort that has trimmed staff for House committees by nearly 20%, saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. But the number of committee staff responsible for press and communications work has increased by nearly 15% over the same period, according to House spending records.

Hard to blame them, I guess. If you were in their shoes, wouldn't you want to do everything in your power to let people know about everything you've accomplished on their behalf? Actually, on second thought, that doesn't make a lot of sense, given that they've accomplished nothing. But on third thought, this is the GOP we're talking about: To them, doing nothing is an accomplishment. So it makes sense to hire staff to brag about it.

Plus, if your primary investigations are focused on Benghazi and the IRS, there really isn't much to investigate, certainly not enough to justify expanding actual investigative staff. So you might as well invest in spinners—because you're going to need them.



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