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Amid a steady supply of political scandals and high-profile legislation, campaign finance reform has become a big business during the past decade, complete with hefty six-figure executive salaries and multimillion-dollar budgets for the groups that bird-dog the issue.

During a recent three-year period, presidents, chief executive officers and executive directors at eight prominent Washington, D.C.-based advocacy and watchdog organizations saw their overall compensation — including salary, health insurance and pension payments — increase by 25 percent, according to an analysis of Internal Revenue Service documents filed by the eight groups.

But industry experts warn that the gold rush may soon be over, as the foundations that largely fund the work of the reform groups seem to be putting their money into other research projects and causes.

The groups in Roll Call’s analysis were: League of Women Voters, Democracy 21, Campaign Legal Center, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Campaign Finance Institute, Center for Responsive Politics, Public Citizen and Common Cause.

Totals for half of the groups include fundraising and executive compensation figures from affiliated education funds and foundations. Fundraising totals include direct and indirect gifts, but not real estate or other investment income.

Higher-ups at the eight organizations made an average of $179,000 in overall pay in 2005. The median executive salary and benefits package for the groups was about $171,000.

The groups’ executives in 2003 earned an average of $143,000, with the median compensation package around $140,000. The following year, the average overall pay soared to $168,000, an 18 percent increase. Median executive pay in 2004 was about $160,000.

In 2005, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer took home the heftiest compensation package — almost $226,000 — while Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook took in $117,000, the least amount paid to an executive of the eight groups that year.

Compared with her counterparts who rely primarily on big foundation gifts to keep the lights on, Claybrook may have missed her pay day. She said her 10 percent pay increase reflects only compensation adjustments for inflation and jumps in health insurance premiums paid for by the organizations.

“What have I missed?” Claybrook joked. “I get the exact same salary increase as everyone else at Public Citizen ... a cost of living adjustment.”

Many of the groups confirmed that special compensation committees made up of board members set the executive pay and benefits packages. One major factor in the process, they said, is what executives at other advocacy groups are paid.

Susan Manes, who chairs Democracy 21’s board of directors, said her group first looks at surveys to find an acceptable salary range before it “particularize[s] the process.”

“We look at ... Fred’s qualifications and Democracy 21’s achievements and then reach a recommendation,” said Manes, a retired Capitol Hill staffer who also worked at Common Cause, which Wertheimer ran from 1981 to 1995. “We’re a very small organization with a modest budget, ambitious goals and pretty substantial achievements. We make sure the salary we set reflects that — and is pretty affordable.”

Potter’s Many Hats

Campaign Legal Center President Trevor Potter’s pay has increased by nearly one-third during the three-year period, from $169,000 in 2003 to $221,000 in 2005. Potter, the lawyer for Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign, is listed as a part-time employee at the organization, a designation Executive Director J. Gerald Hebert said doesn’t give a full picture of his day-to-day involvement.

“He’s got extensive contacts [and] he’s a tremendous fundraiser,” Hebert said of Potter, who has recused himself from working on the group’s federal campaign finance matters this cycle because of his involvement in McCain’s White House bid. “I always laugh when I hear anyone say he’s part time at the Legal Center — he and I talk throughout the day as if he’s in my office.”