Dan Froomkin reports that the latest list of White House staffers and their respective salaries has been released. Among the highest-paid White House staffers: Press Secretary Dana Perino, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Counsel Fred Fielding, and Counselor Ed Gillespie. Froomkin highlights some interesting bits from the disclosure:
– After four years of stagnating at $30,000, the bottom of the payscale was finally raised this year to $33,400.
– There are fully 25 lawyers in the White House counsel’s office.
– Staci A. Wheeler, the White House’s director of fact checking, is — at $60,000 — either being paid way too little or way too much, depending on how you want to look at it.
This shit practically writes itself
July 24th, 2008 at 12:55 pmA “Director of Fact-checking” in the Bush gangster regime White House? Surely you jest…
July 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pmSo one of the lowest paid people has one of the most important jobs? Yeah, I guess that’s about right. And Bush has 25 lawyers we pay to work for him? Maybe that’s one reason Bush has stayed out of prison.
Are they all going to Paraguay with Bush?
July 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pmSo, are they paying her to stay home, or what?
July 24th, 2008 at 12:57 pmStaci is way, way underpaid. Director of fact-checking has to be the hardest job in the White House. Oh, that is, after the presi-dunce-y. GDumbya has already let us know that it’s “hard, hard work”.
Hey, Staci, there’s a “fact” I’d like you to check. And is GDumbya including brush-clearing in his assessment of the difficulty of his job?
July 24th, 2008 at 12:58 pmI believe the position has been reclassified. It’s now Director of Reality Support. And Bush’s code name is Vanilla Sky.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:00 pm$60K just to turn over an 8-Ball? America, whadda country.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pmThere’s an oxymoron for ya: conservative fact checker. What’s next, conservative scientist?
Since “conservatives” abhor both facts and logic, it appears very likely that Ms. Wheeler is paid $60/year to do nothing at all.
I could use a job like that: one where you get a steady pay check but they don’t expect you to work…
July 24th, 2008 at 1:03 pmWhen you go to the White House, you have to check your facts at the door. Don’t forget to tip the fact check girl.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:04 pm“Bush pays his ‘director of fact-checking’ $60,000.”
The one of McCain earns $13/year. And his first language isn’t English. And, in fact, hasn’t second language.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:04 pmHow ’bout the facts about 9/11/01?
July 24th, 2008 at 1:04 pmI found parts of her job description as Director of Reality Support:
1. Forget everything you know, and open your eyes to George W.’s reality
2. Forget everything you know about life, and just open your eyes to such a man (as described by Frances Townsend in her resignation letter)
Only in Bush’s world.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:05 pmfact-checker/ in this administration? You have got to be putting us on.
Rove: We’re an empire now, we create our own reality.
Ray-gun: Facts are stupid things
July 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pmBecause Washington DC has one of the highest costs of living in the country, I expect the pay scale of any organization to sound high by the standards I’m accustomed to.
Even so, I think I wouldn’t mind having that fact-checking job. Because nobody in that administration wants to be bothered by facts, I wouldn’t have that much to do, and I’d have plenty of time to blog. And with that salary, I could probably afford an apartment in the DC area.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:13 pmStaci has asked GDumbya for a raise because she thinks she should make at least as much as Dana Bimborino.
Faced with a bankrupt budget, GDumbya has instead upgraded her job title. Staci will henceforth be known as Fact Czar.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:13 pm– Staci A. Wheeler, the White House’s director of fact fixing, is — at $60,000 — almost certainly not being paid per fact, but rather at a fixed yearly salary.
If she were paid per fact, then after the last 8 years her personal fortune would rival that of Bill Gates.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pmUncle Ho Says:
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fact-checker/ in this administration?
It’s not what you think. If anyone bring up a fact, the fact checker hits them with a hockey stick.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:15 pmSince day 1 with this current crowd, facts never mattered.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:15 pmWhy start now?
Wow, sure glad I don’t work for Bush, cripes, my wife makes more than that on a bad year.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:16 pmShoeless,
That’s called slashing.
A fact-checker slams people against the wall with their shoulder when a fact is uttered…
Although I supposed she could be a fact-cross-checker which would involve use of the stick…
But that’s already illegal in Hockey…it’s gotta be in real life right? But I forget, this is the GWB Administration. When Bush plays hockey he has signing statements that exempt him from penalties for slashing, cross-checking, tripping, and being offsides.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pmIn this White House, Cheney makes up his own rules.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pmSince the Bushies create their own reality Staci has plenty of time to supplement her income with her night job driving the little clown car for Ringling Brothers.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:20 pmMizz Wheeler would more accurately be called a “fact bouncer.”
Well worth the $60K to this White House.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:22 pmFacts have a well known liberal bias.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:24 pmIf the White House hadn’t spent all its money on lawyers, they would have connected Staci’s phone so she could report….
July 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pmIs Staci Wheeler the propaganda catapult we heard about from GW a while back?
I assumed he was speaking figuratively, though I shouldn’t have since GWB doesn’t even know what the word figuratively means.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:26 pmWouldn’t it be easier and save money for the White House in the long-run, by using FOX NEWS and their fact-checkers!
July 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pmMaybe she could get a raise if they change the title to something more prestigious sounding, like Minister of Propaganda.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:29 pmGW misspoke — she’s the FAT-checker: She checks the fat guts of the spineless war-mongerers as they swell from the indegestion of their gluttonous feasting on America. Actually it’s a pretty disgusting job.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:32 pmHer reports are submitted immediately to the royal … I mean, presidental tailor.
Klem Kiddilehopper Says:
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Wouldn’t it be easier and save money for the White House in the long-run, by using FOX NEWS and their fact-checkers!
They do. The White House fact checker uses Fox News as his fact checkers, and Fox News uses the White House as their fact checkers.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:34 pmSorry Staci, I meant her fact checker.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pmCan’t he just get Brent Bozell to do it?
July 24th, 2008 at 1:36 pmDoes Cheney have a fart checker?
Ick, I wonder how much that pays…
July 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm“Director of fact checking, is — at $60,000″ Unbelievable. And I wonder how much the Bubble Boy-in-chief pays the Director of Pet Projects?
July 24th, 2008 at 1:54 pmIs Ms. Wheeler a Regent U grad? Liberty U? Kent Hovind’s diploma mill?
July 24th, 2008 at 2:05 pmHas Ms. Wheeler ever heard of the effing Google?
July 24th, 2008 at 2:05 pmYeah, but she can’t use it. All the internet tubes in the White House are plugged up with Karl Rove’s missing emails.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm$60k… it’s probably her side job. (The one she devotes all of 10 minutes a week to.)
July 24th, 2008 at 2:56 pmJust goes to show how much value this WH places on facts.
Wonder if 25 lawyers is enough for Bushco, given the volume of alleged criminal charges that could be filed. Guess they are lucky the Dems have no cajones.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:26 pmtrollsbwild Says:
July 24th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
It will take more than 25 lawyers, and their aids, just to shred the documents and watch the IT guys wipe hard drives.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:02 pmBush having a fact-checker is about as ridiculous as the War Party calling itself the “culture of life.”
Oh wait, they do.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:28 pmFact checker? Bush should get his money back. Although I doubt whether he cared at all. Facts never got in the way of the Whitehouse. I never knew there was a fact checker. Could have fooled me.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:40 pm