First Lady requires more than twenty attendants

[Danno 1,228]

First Lady requires more than twenty attendants

“The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it”

--Albert Einstein

“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said. “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, “ Michelle Obama

No, Michele Obama does not get paid to serve as the First Lady and she doesn’t perform any official duties. But this hasn’t deterred her from hiring an unprecedented number of staffers to cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession. Just think Mary Lincoln was taken to task for purchasing china for the White House during the Civil War. And Mamie Eisenhower had to shell out the salary for her personal secretary.

How things have changed! If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans facing certain destitution, earning less than subsistence wages stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart or serving up McDonald cheeseburgers, prepare to scream and then come to realize that the benefit package for these servants of Miz Michele are the same as members of the national security and defense departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by John Q. Public:

1. $172,2000 - Sher, Susan (CHIEF OF STAFF)

2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)

4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

5. Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

6. $90,000 - Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

11. Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)

13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)

14. Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

18. Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)

19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)

21. Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)

22. Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

[Ban Hammer 13,349]

there's a way to help balance the budget - cut that staff down some!

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I heard her say this yesterday " Let them Eat Cake!"

Oh and Sally needs a raise.

Edited July 12, 2009 by lancer1655

[웃 910]

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Unfortunately reality points to the OP being a bit of a slanted right wing hatchet piece:

White House releases staff salary list

WASHINGTON, Jul 02, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Top staff members of the White House earn the same amount of money as their predecessors in the Bush administration, according to a list released by the White House, the CNN reported on Thursday.

 

The list, which a 1994 law requires be submitted annually to Senate and House oversight committees, shows 487 employees on the White House personnel list.

Of those, 455 are employed directly by the White House, while an additional 32 are so-called "detailees" borrowed from other federal agencies.

Among them, 122 staffers earn more than 100,000 U.S. dollars annually, compared to 125 employees in the final year of the Bush administration.

Twenty-two White House staffers earn a salary of 172,200 dollars, compared to 18 who made that amount in the Bush White House.

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and press secretary Robert Gibbs both make that amount, as did their Bush counterparts Joshua Bolten and Dana Perino.

Other top Obama aides who earn the same level of salary are senior adviser David Axelrod, White House counsel Gregory Craig, communications director Anita Dunn, speechwriting director Jonathan Favreau, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, National Security advisor James Jones, and National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers.

The highest-paid White House staff member is Public Health Policy director David Marcozzi, who earns 192,934 dollars.

However, as a detailee borrowed from the Department of Health and Human Services, his salary is not paid directly by the White House.

http://election-2008.tmcnet.com/news/2009/07/02/4255644.htm

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

W and Laura Bush's

[Nagishkaw 510]

“In my own life, in my own small way, I have tried to give back to this country that has given me so much,” she said. “See, that’s why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, “ Michelle Obama

:rofl: :rofl:

[NickD 203]

Read somewhere, when a president retires, only get a couple of bucks per year retirement pay, but well over ten million bucks a year in expense money. Don't have to pay taxes on expenses

[SMOKE 1,426]

Read somewhere, when a president retires, only get a couple of bucks per year retirement pay, but well over ten million bucks a year in expense money. Don't have to pay taxes on expenses

silly. everyone knows democrats don't pay taxes. they just make everyone else pay.

[NickD 203]

Read somewhere, when a president retires, only get a couple of bucks per year retirement pay, but well over ten million bucks a year in expense money. Don't have to pay taxes on expenses

silly. everyone knows democrats don't pay taxes. they just make everyone else pay.

Does that include, independents? Loved that George Wallace term, not a dimes worth of difference.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Read somewhere, when a president retires, only get a couple of bucks per year retirement pay, but well over ten million bucks a year in expense money. Don't have to pay taxes on expenses

How about $ 191,300? http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/98-249.pdf

[Niels Bohr 72]

Hmm...Doesn't all PREZ have an arsenal of people by his side, and so as the first lady. Makes no difference.

[Peikko 1,575]

If she sacked them, it would be outrage against her for taking their jobs away during this economic downturn. Either the positions are necessary for a successful presidency or they are not. It might be worth looking at this, but I very much doubt it.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Hmm...Doesn't all PREZ have an arsenal of people by his side, and so as the first lady. Makes no difference.

No, just the Obama's.

[rebeccajo 14]

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Politics/Story?i...3323&page=2

There's nothing more elegant than a state dinner at the White House…the finest food served on the finest china.

It's a detail even Hollywood gushed about in the movie "The American President" where Michael Douglas played the commander in chief who famously described the room to environmental lobbyist Annette Bening as "the room with all the dishes."

"It's the China Room!" Bening's character said.

At 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., a room is set aside for the surviving china of presidents, including Madison, Monroe, Lincoln and Roosevelt along with the china or glassware of almost every past president.

The room was designated in 1917 Ellen Wilson by Woodrow Wilson's wife as the Presidential Collection Room. Bening's character was right: It's now the China Room.

Among the ongoing political theater in Washington, questions swirled in the nation's capital today when first lady Laura Bush introduced the new Bush china -- with a price tag of more than $550,000 -- less than two weeks before she and President Bush move out.

The first lady was careful not to mention the price tag when she introduced the new presidential plates: one, a table set of formal china in white, green and gold; the other for the residence painted with magnolias in honor of the old trees outside the White House windows.

Laura Bush said she and her husband plan to fly straight to the Bush ranch Jan. 20 and will move to their new residence in Dallas "once the paint dries."

White House press secretary Dana Perino made little of the first lady's timing to introduce the new china, saying there's "no time but the present."

The White House worried that general wear and tear had taken a toll on its fragile China collections and Perino says the Bushes took some time to decide on a new design.

But ordering new china can be a political nightmare.

"I have to say that I am baffled by this, by the timing of it," said Sally Quinn, a Washington journalist and author.

Quinn recalled the uproar when President Reagan was slashing the federal budget and his wife, Nancy Reagan, "took a lot of heat" for ordering $200,000 in scarlet china with the presidential seal in gold.

After the outcry, the White House Historical Association, a private foundation, was created to pay for the Reagans' china.

When the White House celebrated its 200th birthday, then-first lady Hillary Clinton designed a new $250,000 set, also paid for by the same foundation. The group is also footing the bill for the Bush china.

Normally, only two-term presidents have time to order custom china so former Presidents Nixon, Carter and Bush never got the chance.

Adding to the collection is likely one task the new first family shouldn't have to face when they entertain.