Top Pawlenty Aides Working for Peanuts

Tim Pawlenty is paying peanuts—or nothing at all—to several top members of his team. His top two strategists as well as at least three advisers are working for just zero to $1,000 per month, plus expense reimbursements, an anonymous aide tells the Washington Post. But “this isn’t 'We’re broke and we can’t afford to pay you,'" the aide insists. Some staffers will receive a larger paycheck later, while others agreed to volunteer long-term.

Even so, the revelation, which will appear in financial reports that will go public in July, seems to suggest that Pawlenty may struggle to keep up with Mitt Romney and other GOP candidates who claim better fundraising networks. But the aide insists the campaign is raising what it expected to, and notes that some of the unpaid consultants have also donated the most they're allowed to under federal law to Pawlenty: $2,500. "This may be hard for some in Washington to accept, but they’re on Team Pawlenty for the right reasons—they believe in the candidate and cause.” (More Tim Pawlenty stories.)