# Keep this in mind in November



## ShineRunner (Sep 11, 2002)

"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 from her husband's salary.

Total Personal Staff members for other first ladies paid by taxpayers: 
· Mamie Eisenhower: One-- paid for personally out of President's salary. 
· Jackie Kennedy: One 
· Rosaline Carter: One 
· Barbara Bush: One 
· Hilary Clinton: Three 
· Laura Bush: One 
· Michele Obama: Twenty-two

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 Ms Michelle are the same as members of the national security and defense 
departments and the bill for these assorted lackeys is paid by YOU, John Q. Public:

Michele Obama's personal staff: 
1. $172,200 - 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 for Mrs. Obama) 
4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady) 
5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa (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 - Lilyveld, 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 Project for the First Lady) 
10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary) 
11. $64,000 - 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 Fitz, Alan O.(Deputy Director of Adance and Trip Director for the First Lady) 
14. $57,500 - 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. $43,000 - Tubman, Samanth a (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. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant) 
22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady) 
Total $1,591,200 in annual salaries

There has NEVER been anyone in the White House at any time who has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life. One wonders why she needs so much help, at taxpayer expense.

Note: This does not include makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to Europe ... 
Written by Dr. Paul L. Williams .. 
Copyright 2009 Canada Free Press.Com canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/12652


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I can see why she needs the hairstylist everywhere she goes. It's tough to comb your own hair with that crown in the way.


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## ShineRunner (Sep 11, 2002)

Last I heard, the United States doesn't have a queen! :eyeroll: :******:


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

ShineRunner said:


> Last I heard, the United States doesn't have a queen! :eyeroll: :ticked:


Someone needs to tell Meeeeshel. :eyeroll:


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## rwestb (Oct 17, 2005)

ShineRunner said:


> "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.
> 
> ...


Here is the truth...

The White House published the 2009 Annual Report to Congress on White House Staff on its official blog on July 1, listing the title and salary of many White House office employees. A few days later, a fuss began online over the number of people who are assigned to work for the Office of First Lady and how much they earn per year.

A blog post from Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet on July 6 put the spotlight on "What Michelle Obama's Staffers Earn." The staff of TheLastCrusade.org, a Web site that describes itself as a place "where you can engage in the life and death struggle against the forces of Islam, apostasy, moral complacency, cultural relativity, and the New World Order," then took the information and posted a piece claiming that the first lady had hired an "unprecedented number of staffers" to "cater to her every whim and to satisfy her every request in the midst of the Great Recession." That piece was also posted on the conservative Web site CanadaFreePress.com under the byline of Dr. Paul L. Williams, who runs TheLastCrusade.org. That post has become part of a chain e-mail that some of our readers have passed on to us, and the e-mail expands upon Williams' post, falsely claiming that some recent first ladies have had only one or three staffers.

How Many?

According to the 2009 White House report to Congress, there are 16 people with a title specifically indicating they work for Michelle Obama's office. In other words, there are 16 people with "first lady" somewhere in their title, such as Jocelyn Frye, deputy assistant to the president and director of policy and projects for the first lady.

The list reported by Sweet and The Last Crusade, however, includes six other staffers who do not have "first lady" in their title but are a part of the first lady's office staff, such as Desiree Rogers, special assistant to the president and White House social secretary, and Natalie Bookey, staff assistant.

We contacted Katie McCormick Lelyveld, Michelle Obama's press secretary, to check the list's accuracy. Lelyveld told us in an e-mail that the first lady's current staff size is actually 24, not 22, as the chain e-mail claims. Lelyveld couldn't provide a list of the staffers at that time.

First Ladies Past

The chain e-mail's author claims that "[t]here has never been anyone in the White House at any time that has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life." The author claims that "even Hillary, only had three; Jackie Kennedy one; Laura Bush one." But the counts for those first ladies are incorrect - and they're way off.

Stephen Plotkin, reference archivist for the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, told us in an e-mail that Jacqueline Kennedy's office was "headed" by one person, but said that there were "at least 9 people working for Mrs. Kennedy, with the promise of a great many more" during her time at the White House.

Kim Coryat, an archives technician at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library, told us it can be difficult to nail down a precise count of staff considering "White House staffing for all offices ebbs and flows with time." But she said in an e-mail that White House telephone directory records indicate that Hillary Clinton had at least a staff of 13 as of October 1993; 18 as of April 1997; and 19 as of March 2000.

Lelyveld said that Michelle Obama's staff was actually no different than that of her predecessor, Laura Bush. "[W]e have exactly the same staff number as Mrs. Bush and our office organization reflects a similar staffing model, so insinuations otherwise are wrong," she said. Lelyveld said that the White House's "personnel records indicate" that there were 24 staffers for Laura Bush at some point. We were able to verify at least 18 staffers for Laura Bush, as of June 30, 2008, via the 2008 White House staff list published in The Washington Post's White House Watch column. Sixteen people were specifically referred to as a "first lady" staffer, and Amy Zantzinger and Dorothy Thornton served as White House social secretary and deputy social secretary, respectively. It's possible that someone with the title of "staff assistant" was assigned to the Office of First Lady as well, as is the case with Michelle Obama's staff.

The combined annual salaries for the 22 staffers we can specifically identify as working for Michelle Obama come to $1.6 million. For the 18 we could identify as working for Laura Bush in 2008, the total is $1.4 million.

Dr. Myra Gutin, a professor of communications at Rider University and a first ladies historian, says that the first lady's role has certainly "grown and evolved" since the 1960s, but generally speaking, the first lady's "staff numbers about 14-16." Gutin told us she recalled "some first ladies have had staffs of more than that."

-D'Angelo Gore

Sources

Executive Office of the President. "Annual Report on White House Staff to Congress." WhiteHouse.gov. 1 Jul 2009, accessed 30 Jul 2009.

Sweet, Lynn. "What Michelle Obama's Staffers Earn." PoliticsDaily.com. 6 Jul 2009, accessed 30 Jul 2009.

Sweet, Lynn. "More Michelle Obama staff appointments." SunTimes.com. 16 Jan 2009, accessed 30 Jul 2009.

"First Lady Requires More than 20 Attendants." TheLastCrusade.org. 6 Jul 2009, accessed 30 Jul 2009.

Froomkin, Dan. "2008 White House Office Staff List." Washington Post White House Watch Column. 24 Jul 2008, accessed 30 Jul 2009.

Gutin, Myra. E-mail sent to FactCheck.org. 30 Jul 2009.

Plotkin, Stephen. E-mail sent to FactCheck.org. 31 Jul 2009.

Coryat, Kim. E-mail sent to FactCheck.org. 31 Jul 2009.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

> A few days later, a fuss began online over the number of people who are assigned to work for the Office of First Lady and how much they earn per year.


I doubt there would have been a fuss if something wasn't out of the ordinary.

No matter how many people Michele has working for her the way they act they think they are royalty. I wonder what kind of entourage their 13 year old kid took along on vacation to Mexico?. What the heck is a 13 year old doing taking off to Mexico anyway? Do they have spring break for junior high now?


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## ShineRunner (Sep 11, 2002)

Watta bought Bo being flown on a separate jet plane to their vacation? :eyeroll: Wonder what the reasoning for that was?


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## ShineRunner (Sep 11, 2002)

Malia in Mexico...your tax dollars in action, again!!!!

Does it ever stop for the Royal family?
Malia in Mexico

After driving the U.S. more deeply into debt than any other President, if George 
Bush's daughters had done this, it would be all over the news and the liberals 
would be calling for his head.

Want to know where Obama's 13 year-old daughter is right now with 12 friends?

On spring break in Oaxaca Mexico, on your dime.

She took two jets and 25 secret service men.

A thirteen year-old? What the?

Why haven't you heard about it?

The Obama Administration has had the Secret Service scouring the web ordering 
that any website mentioning this be taken down because letting the travel plans 
out could endanger the president's daughters security.

Nonsense, the royal couple just want to hide the way they are ripping off the 
U.S. taxpayer. Only a few Canadian Web-sites still have it up. (one below)

The Obama's are laughing at the suckers who are funding their Imperial 
Lifestyle.

This trip will cost more than most Americans make in their entire lifetimes.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/travel/Obama+daughter+spends+spring+break+Mexico/6323773/story.html


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