from The State Journal-Register:

Possible savings?

LT. GOV. Corinne Wood took a swipe at her fellow Republican and gubernatorial primary candidate Jim Ryan this week, complaining that two of Ryan's campaign workers are still earning half their pay from the state.

Ryan's office tried to defuse the issue, noting that while his campaign is paying half of the two workers' salaries close to $90,000 the two still are spending about 80 percent of their time on state business.

It's yet to be seen whether Wood's gambit to tarnish Ryan's squeaky-clean image will work. What we found equally interesting was Wood trumpeting the fact that she has taken five of her top staffers off the state payroll, and is paying them to work full time for her campaign.

The five include a press secretary, her former chief of staff, her deputy chief of staff, her director of governmental affairs and an official with the office's Rural Affairs Council.

The five earned a total of nearly $380,000 in their state jobs, and now Wood's campaign chest will pay them a like amount. Good for them, but it does raise an interesting question.

How is the lieutenant governor's office going to function for the next year without five of its top administrators? Replacements are not going to be hired to fill the five people's spots while they run Wood's campaign.

Makes us wonder if the next lieutenant governor could save $380,000 in salaries.