Elizabeth Hasselback spins a web of deceit in Florida
Today, Elizabeth Hasselback, speaking at a Palin rally, falsely accused Barack Obama for being a hypocrite for supporting equal pay for equal work while supposedly not paying his women staffers equally. How did Hasselback (or whoever gave her the information) determine this? Well, they took the combined salary of all the men and divided that total by the number of men and compared that to the salary of all the women and divided that total by the number of women. I guess it never occured to her that this is an illogical way to look at the data. (And here is the data on Barack Obama’s senatorial staff payroll).
Now, using our thinking caps we can all see how Republicans are just desperately trying to find some attack to nail Obama with and they miserably.
| Colvin, Nicholas M | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Special Assistant | $18,091.27 | |
| Currie-Leonard, Joan M | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Special Assistant | $18,999.96 |
Now, these are two of Obama’s staffers. This is the amount of salary they made over 6 months. Hmm, seems to me that JOAN made more than NICHOLAS. Now, unless Joan and Nicholas have some weird parents, it looks like the woman makes more than the man.
If you look at all the Staff Assistants on his payroll you will see these employees worked for Obama the entire 6 months.
| Henard, Indira M | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $13,999.92 |
| Stephens, Jeffrey M | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $18,000.00 |
| Nerad, Jason P | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $13,999.92 |
| Tranbaugh, Mary H | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $15,999.96 |
| Dyer, Vianca Monet | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $14,040.30 |
| Person, Eric C | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $13,999.92 |
| Trienens, Lillian W | 10/01/07 | 03/31/08 | Staff Assistant | $14,575.35 |
Now, the lowest salary is $13,999.92. The people who got paid the lowest salary are named ERIC, JASON, and INDIRA. So individually, more men than women got the lowest salary. So why does Jeffrey get paid more than Indira? Well Jeffery has worked for Obama since July 10th, 1006 (not counting his internship). Indira has worked for Obama since March 26th, 2007. Seems rather clear why Jeffery would make more than Indira for the same position. He has more experience.
Mary, who is the highest paid female staff assistant (and 2nd highest paid staff assistant overall) only makes $15,999.96 compared to Jeffery’s $18,000. Why is that? Well, Mary has worked for Obama since January 3rd, 2007. So she worked for Obama longer than Indira but less than Jeffery. So it seems to make sense that Mary would get paid more than Indira but less than Jeffery, doesn’t it?
And this goes under the assumption that if you have the same job title that you will have the same responsibilities (something that cannot necessarily be assumed).
It is obvious that the Republicans are reaching now. I really think we all need to sit back question Mrs. Hasselback’s view.