Capitol Weekly, a publication that keeps state employees apprised of job openings, promotional opportunities and other nuts-and-bolts civil service information, has published an analysis of the staff payrolls of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature. The paper's report is openly dismissive of a recent Associated Press analysis which purported to show that the governor's staff numbered 61. It says the number is actually about 235, with most of the governor's staff positions hidden in the budgets of various state agencies.

Of the 235, the newspaper reports, 31 are making more than $100,000 a year, topped by chief of staff Patricia Clarey at $137,772. A high-profile example of the kind of payroll-hiding activity Capitol Weekly cites is Terri Carbaugh, who functions as first lady Maria Shriver's official spokeswoman. Carbaugh, who makes $105,000, is on the state payroll as a special assistant in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Other members of the governor's press office are officially on the payroll as employees of such departments as Caltrans, Parks and Recreation and Food and Agriculture.

All told, Capitol Weekly puts the governor's staff payroll at $14.9 million.

The tab for the Legislature's staff is $122 million, up from $118 million last December. The list includes 72 members of the $100,000-a-year-plus club in the Assembly and 85 in the Senate. The highest paid are Senate Secretary Gregory Schmidt at $159,912, and Assembly Rules Committee executive Jonathan Waldie at $148,716.