* New Rauner staff salaries…

Meghan Keenan was a Communications Analyst for the Illinois Policy Institute.

* Some context…

Rasmussen signed on for an annual salary of $170,000. Tax filings from the nonprofit Illinois Policy Institute show Rasmussen’s salary was less than $160,000 in 2014. In the same year, she collected over $30,000 in “other compensation” from the Policy Institute and related organizations.

According to a former Rauner staffer, Diana Rickert, another IPI recruit, will earn $15,000 more than her predecessors. State records show former Communications Director Brad Hahn and former Deputy Chief of Staff Lance Trover each earned an annual salary of $150,000.

In a 2016 op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, Rickert wrote, “When public-sector unions demand excessive salaries and benefits, politicians just say yes and pass on the bill to taxpayers.”

A press release from the Illinois Policy Institute published in the same month complained that “at $67,836, Illinois lawmakers have the highest base salary in the Midwest and the fifth-highest base salary for legislators in the nation.”