[Bunk]

You could argue the White House Chief of Staff, is ridiculously underpaid considering their responsibility - and you'd be right.

Nevertheless, you could also argue that in Alberta, at the Provincial level, compensation for various staff is out of whack - and you'd also be right.

Speaking as a political staffer I can tell you that the amount and type of work in political offices is not well understood by most people (Captain Crunch's post being an example of that - that job is super, super intense - likely 70-80 hrs a week of extremely high stress). They are certainly deserving of solid compensation - you need that to attract talented, competent people.

That said, it is public service and there clear limitations of political office budgets paid for by the public purse. So there is an understanding of some level of sacrifice vs what can be earned for equivalent positions in the private sector (or even other public sector jobs). Virtually everyone in our office either took a pay cut or could now be earning substantially more in other jobs based on our qualifications and skill sets. Longer term, our careers, assuming we're successful, will benefit hugely from that kind of unique experience.

Quite simply, you do not need a salary well in excess of $300k to have a well qualified Chief of Staff. Or over $200k for a communications staffer. I'd argue everyone here (at the Municipal level in the Mayor's Office) is highly qualified (and would be too in a Premier's Office - considering our city is larger than 5 provinces) and don't make anywhere close to those in the Alberta's Premier's Office, nor do we have anything that resembles the absurd severance packages offered there.