fire the teachers and the secretaries, but increase salaries for political appointee?

But to help them do it they hired 61 assistants, each making more than a $100,000 a year. Salaries in the speaker's office rose one and a half percent.

Cannon's top aide, Matthew Bahl, makes $146,000 a year; that's more than three-and-a-half times the speaker's salary. Haridopolos' top aide, Stephen MacNamara, makes more than $175,000, or more than four times the Senate president's salary.

Former Eustis Sen. Carey Baker is now a Senate consultant making $175 an hour, up to $7,500 a month.

"I don't pretend these are small salaries, they're not. But we're trying to run a $70 billion organization and we need to find the right people for it," Haridopolos said.

Yet, at a time when the new governor is promising cuts and people are struggling to keep the jobs they have, there are more than a few critics who say some of the sky-high salaries at the Capitol don't make sense.