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Massive Staff Walkout Planned at House Oversight Committee When Gowdy Takes Over, Chaffetz AWOL However, as Chaffetz plans to leave within the next few weeks, many staff plan to leave with him. Many of the staffers leaving have ties to Chaffetz and are in fact fellow alumni of Brigham Young University. Many on the Hill refer to the large number of BYU alumni serving in federal government as the “Mormon mafia.” The staffers claim their walkout is not necessarily in solidarity with Chaffetz, but more a pre-emptive move because they strongly suspect Trey Gowdy will make changes, or fire a lot of senior staff. The top staffers of the committee are David Rapallo and Susanne Sachsman, both Democrats, who each are paid $172,000 in salary. Of the entire committee staff of ninety, only two junior members are registered Republican: Alexander Miehls, and Michael Ding. (Dated May 27)