Nbadan
11-25-2004, 05:04 AM
Aides to defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) won’t be getting a gold watch. But they will receive a severance package to keep them financially afloat as they look for new jobs, thanks to a resolution passed by the Senate just before it adjourned early Sunday morning.
The package is far short of the “golden parachutes” that go along with top corporate jobs, but it could help ease some of the financial and emotional pain that Daschle’s staff has experienced after his stinging loss.
The resolution, titled “Displaced staff members of senators and Senate leaders,” modifies Senate rules to provide up to two months’ pay and benefits to leadership staff or personal-office aides when the senator they work for is defeated in the elections.
.............
“You know us — we’re just softies,” one Senate Republican aide said. “We’re compassionate conservatives. Send a few more packing — we’d be happy to give a severance package to them as well.”
News Hill (http://www.hillnews.com/news/11242004/daschle.aspx)
Yeah, what a bunch of compassionate conservatives, right?
Daschle, who is reviled by many congressional Republicans for his efforts to stop GOP initiatives and judicial nominees in the Senate, was defeated in this month’s election by former Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.).
Some Democrats, still singed by Sen. John Kerry’s defeat in the presidential election and party losses in the House and Senate, even suggested that House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) might be behind an effort to convince K Street firms to think twice before hiring Daschle staff.
Several Democratic aides said that a midsize Washington lobbying firm, the Alpine Group, declined last week to hire a Daschle staffer with whom the group had been in long-standing discussions about a possible job. They said the Daschle aide, who The Hill agreed not to name, believed he would get the job based on conversations with the firm about three months before the election.
According to one Senate aide familiar with the situation, the firm told the Daschle aide, “This is a cold town for Democrats. It’s especially cold for Daschle’s staff.” Asked whether DeLay or any of his associates had specifically conveyed a message to the firm, the Senate aide said, “The implication was that DeLay had put the word out that Daschle staff should not be hired.”
The Hill (http://www.thehill.com/news/111604/blacklist.aspx)
More crocodile tears from Republicans. Why am I not surprised?
The package is far short of the “golden parachutes” that go along with top corporate jobs, but it could help ease some of the financial and emotional pain that Daschle’s staff has experienced after his stinging loss.
The resolution, titled “Displaced staff members of senators and Senate leaders,” modifies Senate rules to provide up to two months’ pay and benefits to leadership staff or personal-office aides when the senator they work for is defeated in the elections.
.............
“You know us — we’re just softies,” one Senate Republican aide said. “We’re compassionate conservatives. Send a few more packing — we’d be happy to give a severance package to them as well.”
News Hill (http://www.hillnews.com/news/11242004/daschle.aspx)
Yeah, what a bunch of compassionate conservatives, right?
Daschle, who is reviled by many congressional Republicans for his efforts to stop GOP initiatives and judicial nominees in the Senate, was defeated in this month’s election by former Rep. John Thune (R-S.D.).
Some Democrats, still singed by Sen. John Kerry’s defeat in the presidential election and party losses in the House and Senate, even suggested that House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) might be behind an effort to convince K Street firms to think twice before hiring Daschle staff.
Several Democratic aides said that a midsize Washington lobbying firm, the Alpine Group, declined last week to hire a Daschle staffer with whom the group had been in long-standing discussions about a possible job. They said the Daschle aide, who The Hill agreed not to name, believed he would get the job based on conversations with the firm about three months before the election.
According to one Senate aide familiar with the situation, the firm told the Daschle aide, “This is a cold town for Democrats. It’s especially cold for Daschle’s staff.” Asked whether DeLay or any of his associates had specifically conveyed a message to the firm, the Senate aide said, “The implication was that DeLay had put the word out that Daschle staff should not be hired.”
The Hill (http://www.thehill.com/news/111604/blacklist.aspx)
More crocodile tears from Republicans. Why am I not surprised?