Who'd a Thunk It

In news that anyone could've guessed, but few took the time to actually find out, the AJC is reporting that in this time when no state department or agency is safe from drastic budget cutting, legislators' own budget is rising.

...under the original budget lawmakers approved for this year, spending on the House, Senate and joint legislative operations jumped more than 20 percent from 2003.

The story says the rising budget is due in part to increases in legislators' per diems (not sure if that spelling is correct) and the creation of separate budget offices for each legislative chamber.