Baucus gave girlfriend $14K raise

I posted the jump of raise of Max Baucus' girlfriend on the blog. Click here.

Politico:

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, gave a nearly $14,000 pay raise to a female staffer in 2008, at the time he was becoming romantically involved with her, and later that year took her on a taxpayer-funded trip to Southeast Asia and the Middle East, though foreign policy was not her specialty. Late last Friday, Baucus acknowledged his relationship with Melodee Hanes, whom he nominated for the job of U.S. attorney in Montana, after it was first reported on the website MainJustice.com. [. . .] [Baucus] dismissed calls for an ethics investigation, saying, “I went out of my way to be up and up.”

Also this:

Baucus separated from his now-ex-wife, Wanda, in March 2008 and moved out of their home. Hanes separated from her husband in April 2008 and moved out in early June. Hanes was divorced from her husband last December, and Baucus was divorced in April 2009. They are now living together on Capitol Hill and began dating in the summer of 2008. Hanes and other staff received their raises in this time period, according to public documents that show payroll breakdowns in six-month increments.