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Massachusetts Congressional Staffers make maybe even more than you think.

Working as a top staffer for Massachusetts Members of Congress can fetch a salary well in excess of $100,000 — with some paid nearly as much as the official salary for a member of the Senate or the House of Representatives.

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Raining tax dollars
Image via danieldervartanian.com

The two highest-paid staffers work for Massachusetts’s two United States Senators.

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s chief of staff, Daniel Geldon, and Senator Ed Markey’s state director, Mark Gallagher, each earn $169,458 a year.  That is almost as much as their bosses make, which is $174,000.

It is also double the median income in Massachusetts, which was $72,266 in 2016, according to the U.S. Census data.

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Hey, it’s hard to find good help …
Image via the Los Angeles Times

Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is known for her criticisms of private sector CEO pay, has six staffers at the six-figure level and Senator Edward Markey has eight.

On the House side, most of the nine House of Representatives members from Massachusetts had one or two staffers paid in the six figure range.

Representative Joseph Kennedy (Democrat, Brookline) had three – the most of any Massachusetts Representative, while South Shore and also Democrat Representative William Keating had none.

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Special interests
Image via ThePeoplesVoice.org

Kennedy also had the highest-paid staffer among the reps: Gregory Mecher, his chief of staff, who had a reported salary of $40,400 for the second quarter of this year alone, amounting to potentially $161,600 for the year.

Additionally, Congressional staff members also are eligible for two different pension programs – federal workers receive both defined-benefit and defined-contribution plans – as well as other nice benefits.

Even so, however, those at the top of the income food chain in Washington DC going away are lobbyists.

Read Full Story: How Much Are Massachusetts Congressional Staffers Making? Maybe More Than You Think

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