South Bay. Capitol Weekly takes a look at Laura Richardson’s staff turnover rate, and finds that 18 staffers have already left since Richardson was elected to the House of Representatives two years ago.

The report is based on records maintained by LegiStorm, which tracks congressional staffing and salaries.

“When you see someone who can’t keep staff, it’s usually either they’re a difficult boss to work for, they don’t pay enough or the staff just doesn’t respect them while they’re there,” said Jock Friedly, who publishes LegiStorm. “I can’t say whether any of this is the case in Laura Richardson’s case.”

Richardson is on her fourth spokesman and her third chief of staff. Perhaps most interesting are the commenters on the piece, who seem to have some inside knowledge: “And let us not overlook how Richardson forced staff members to pay for her dry cleaning, move her Sacramento house from Sac to D.C. by U-Haul, this after the moving company quit when she talked to them like she was crazy. Oh, and please don’t exclude how she locked Stan out of the Sacramento office, Jasmyne from the district office, and had Kim escorted by Capitol Police out of the House.”

– Gene Maddaus