ROMZEK, Barbara S <br/><br/>
Accountability of congressional staff 

 -  apr. 2000 
<br/><br/> While accountability is a popular topic among elected officials, accountability of congressional staff has received little systematic scrutiny, a gap this article seeks to fill. Congressional staff have substantial autonomy and opportunity to influence public policy, albeit in ways that are not very visible to the general public. This article explores the web of accountability relationships within which congressional legislative staff work. The data, based on open-ended interviews, indicate that while the rhetoic of Congress supports a notion of switft and sure accountability, in practice the picture is much more complex. Congressional staff work within a web of multiple accountability relationships under a variety of performance standards. Congressional staff are attentive to a diverse range of stakeholders, with members of Congress being the primary but not the only group. The challenges for congressional staff is to discern which standard is appropriate at any given time. The consequences of not meeting performance expectations are subtle and uneven