The average member of Congress holds on to high-level folks for four to five years, but nine months is about all anyone can stand with Florida U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris. Great job by the Sarasota Herald Tribune, which uncovered the red flag in the Harris office.

In just under three years, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris has had four chiefs of staff, four district directors and four press secretaries…

Turnover isn’t limited to Harris’ congressional office, either. As she prepares to run against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, Harris has been hampered by turnover on her campaign staff. Her campaign manager quit last week, after just a few months on the job and not long after she lost a pollster and a campaign finance director earlier this year.

Harris can explain each and every departure, and why each former staffer is unwilling to talk to the media about the experience of working for her.

…Harris said most of the employees have left because they’ve gone on to better jobs. If anything, the turnover shows her staff members are in high demand after gaining experience in a “high-profile” office.

“They always get stolen away,” Harris said.

She also said the Capitol Hill lifestyle — long, unpredictable hours and bad pay — make it hard for her to keep staff.

But her turnover rate is so rare it prompted longtime GOP consultant Rick Wilson to describe it as “chewing through staff like an industrial wood chipper.”

Poor communication and micromanagement seem to be big factors in making Harris the Boss from Hell.

Harris failed to tell her congressional staff that she planned to run for U.S. Senate before she announced it to the media. Some staffers, including her now-former district director Kim Hutchens, called the newspaper to hear about her decision.

She’s also not averse to making her employees redo their work, even after it has been sent out. In October, after a press spokesman released a statement answering questions about her fund-raising totals, Harris required him to send out a revised statement with minor wording changes.