$25,000 to meet the ‘powerful few’? Never mind, Washington Post says.
By Linda Feldmann | 07.02.09
At newspapers, employees joke about having bake sales or fundraising auctions to help the bottom line. Having worked on many a school auction, I can see the catalog description now: “Dinner and a movie with your favorite editor! Value: priceless.”
But over at The Washington Post, which is by far not the most financially challenged newspaper going, they’re in a PR free-fall over the story that broke this morning on Politico.com:
“For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to ‘those powerful few’ – Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.”
The story, broken by Politico’s chief political correspondent, Mike Allen, described a flier acquired from a lobbyist, of all ironies, who felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge access to its healthcare reporting and editorial staff.
The Post agreed, and immediately canceled the “salon” that was to be held at publisher Katharine Weymouth’s house.
Now the paper’s management is in full-scale damage control.
“This should never have happened,” Ms. Weymouth told Post media reporter Howard Kurtz. “The fliers got out and weren’t vetted. They didn’t represent at all what we were attempting to do. We’re not going to do any dinners that would impugn the integrity of the newsroom.”
Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander is also bemoaning what he says “comes pretty close to a public-relations disaster.”
It must have been painful for Mr. Allen, who broke the story, to embarrass the Post in this way. Allen worked at the Post for six years and has spoken fondly of his time there. He has likened the first time he entered the Post newsroom to being a ballplayer and stepping onto the grass at Fenway Park in Boston for the first time.
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President Obama hosts military families for July 4 fireworks
By Dave Cook | 07.02.09
Barack Obama will share his first July 4 celebration at the White House with 1,200 military families.
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said at Thursday’s White House briefing that the president would return to the White House from Camp David on Saturday so he could host a large party on the South Lawn for “military heroes.” The festivities will include a barbecue and music by the Marine Band.
The Fourth of July fireworks display in the nation’s capital takes place over the Washington Monument and the South Lawn of the White House and offers stunning views of the monument and the fireworks.
In addition to inviting military families to share in the festivities, Gibbs said the president has also asked White House staff to join in the celebration.
The First Family leaves Sunday for a trip to Russia, Italy, and Ghana.
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White House salaries: Whose check is biggest?
By Dave Cook | 07.02.09
In most organizations, the salary list is a tightly guarded secret. But in President Obama’s White House, it is posted on the website.
For the Washington obsessed, the information posted Wednesday afternoon is full of fascinating factoids.
For example, the best known aides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue – Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, senior adviser David Axelrod, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs – are not the best paid. That distinction goes to David Marcozzi, the president’s director of public health policy, who makes $192,934 a year. His home agency is the Department of Health and Human Services and he is a “detailee” at the White House.
The lofty “assistant to” title
After Mr. Marcozzi, the next best paid are National Security Adviser James Jones and 21 who carry the title Assistant to the President. Members of this group – including Messrs Emanuel, Axelrod, Gibbs – make $172,200. That is the same salary as former President Bush’s top aides. Mr. Obama promised to freeze White House salaries above $100,000 when he came into office, paying his top staffers staff at the same level as President Bush in his final year.
Total salary cost comparisons between the Obama and Bush White Houses are difficult, because President Obama has released more information on compensation than his predecessor. He also appears to have a bigger staff than Bush. Hotline’s On Call blog calculates that the Obama administration is spending about $5.1 million more on staff in 2009 than the Bush administration did in 2008.
Working for the love of it
At the low end, two staffers are listed as receiving no pay. They are Michael Warren, a senior adviser for economics in the department of personnel, and Patricia McGinnis, who is listed simply as an adviser. For those who are being paid, the lowest salary is $36,000.
The $172,200 assistant to the president pay level goes to individuals with a wide range of experience, the Washington Post notes. They range in age from 28-year-old Jonathan Favreau, the president’s director of speechwriting to Mr. Jones, a 66-year-old retired general.
It pays to work for the president
And, not surprisingly, who you work for makes a difference in your paycheck. The press secretary to First Lady Michelle Obama is paid $80,000. The press secretary to the President makes $172,200 and Gibbs’s deputies make $113,000.
Many White House workers labor long hours for modest pay in return for the thrill of being where the action is. As Michael Shear writes in the Washington Post’s “44” blog, “The vast bulk of the employees appear to earn between $40,000 and $55,000 per year, making the White House quite a modestly paid enterprise for most of the workaholics who spend time there.”
The president himself makes $400,000. The vice president, $227,300.
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Chief Justice John Roberts, film critic?
By Peter Grier | 07.01.09
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts has a favorite movie! No, it’s not “Transformers 2.”
At a judical conference in West Virginia last weekend, Chief Justice Roberts was asked about his favorite film, and he confirmed previous reports that it is “Dr. Zhivago.”
But then Roberts went on and on, waxing lyrical in a very good imitation of a USC film school grad. He praised “Dr. Zhivago” – a story of a man torn between two women against the backdrop of the 1917 Russian Revolution – for its “astounding” cast, its “wonderful” cinematography, and its “great” drama. Then he began to dissect its themes, among them its message that art endures even in the midst of great peril.
“See, once you get me started on ‘Dr. Zhivago’…,” he said, to general laughter. “You know … the symbolism of these people triumphing over the Russian winter and the storyline of their fundamental human emotions persisting through human oppression, I just think it all comes together, and it’s a great story,” he said.
Amazingly, the conference moderator, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals, admitted that “Dr. Zhivago” was his favorite movie, too. Surely that has nothing to do with the fact that Roberts can sit in judgment of Judge Wilkinson’s rulings.
Note to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor: this movie is widely available on DVD. You know, just in case you are interested.
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In Palin-Obama sports matchup, White House changes game
By Dave Cook | 07.01.09
At Thursday’s White House briefing, spokesman Robert Gibbs deflected a question about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s statement earlier this week that she could beat the President in a long footrace.
In an interview with Runner’s World Sarah Palin was asked if she could beat the president in a race. She replied, “What I lacked in physical strength or skill I made up for in determination and endurance. So if it were a long race that required a lot of endurance, I’d win.”
Better at basketball?
When first asked about Gov. Palin’s comment, Obama spokesman Gibbs replied, “How’s her jump shot?”
The President is a well known basketball fan. It turns out Palin is, as well. She told Runner’s world “ we both love basketball. But look, he towers over me and I wouldn’t be complaining about an unfair advantage there, but maybe I’d do better playing H-O-R-S-E with him than one-on-one.”
Gibbs said the outcome of a race would depend on “where they were going to run.”
And he ended by saying he would ask the President “if he’s got any free time in his summer to do that.”
Jimmy Orr has worked in politics for the majority of his professional career working for two U.S. Senators, two Governors and one President. Most recently, Orr served as White House Spokesman and Internet Director for President George W. Bush and Special Advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger for Internet Communications.
David Cook is Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts. He was the Monitor's editor from 1994 to 2001. Cook is a graduate of Principia College, served in the U.S. Army, was a Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, and is a member of the Gridiron Club, Washington's oldest journalistic organization.
