First Lady Michelle Obama has a larger staff than previous first ladies–Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
This is an email that contains a list of 22 staff members under First Lady Michelle Obama along with their salaries. The email alleges that “There 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.” It also says that former First Lady Hillary Clinton had three, Jackie Kennedy had one and Laura Bush only had one staff member.
The Truth:
The allegations that former first ladies from previous administrations had smaller staffs is Fiction! – at least in the cases of Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton.
On July 1, 2009 the White House released a 29 Page long ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS ON WHITE HOUSE OFFICE STAFF. This report in Adobe PDF format can be found on the Executive Mansion website: Click for report.
From it, TruthorFiction.com confirmed the following staff members, job titles as they appeared in the report and annual salaries. Please note that some of the below job titles do not indicate clearly if they are directly under the President or the First Lady :
Sher, Susan Assistant To The President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady 172,200
Frye, Jocelyn C Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy and Projects For the Fist Lady 140,000
Rogers, Desiree G. Special Assistant to the President and White House Social Secretary 113,000
Johnston, Camille Y. Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the First Lady 102,000
Winter, Melissa E. Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady 102,000
Medina, David S. Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady 90,000
Lelyveld, Catherine M. Director and Press Secretary to the First Lady 84,000
Starkey, Frances M. Director of Scheduling and Advance for the First Lady 75,000
Sanders, Trooper Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady 70,000
Burnough, Erinn J. Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary 65,000
Reinstein, Joseph B. Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary 65,000
Goodman, Jennifer R. Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events Coordinator For The First Lady 62.000
Fitts, Alan O. Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for the First Lady 60,000
Lewis, Dana M. Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First Lady 60,000
Mustaphi, Semonti M. Associate Director and Deputy Press Secretary To The First Lady 52,500
Jarvis, Kristen E. Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling Aide To The First Lady 50,000
Lechtenberg, Tyler A. Associate Director of Correspondence For The First Lady 45,000
Tubman, Samantha Deputy Associate Director 45,000
Boswell, Joseph J. Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to the First Lady $40,000
Armbruster, Sally M. Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary 36,000
Bookey, Natalie Staff Assistant $36,000
Jackson, Deilia A. Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence for the First Lady 36,000
First Ladies of the White House have no official job description. In an October 25, 2004 PBS program former First Lady Laura Bush said , “It’s not an office; you’re not elected to it.” In the same transcript, former First Lady Hillary Clinton called it a vicarious role.
The White House Museum has a First Lady page with photos with descriptions of former First Ladies meeting with staff members. Nancy Reagan, Laura Bush showing a variation in numbers that would conflict with the numbers indicated by Williams’ blog.
The museum page said that former first lady Hillary Clinton had a staff of twenty in addition to fifteen interns and volunteers. The museum also said that Eleanor Roosevelt had two staff members, Malvina Thompson and social secretary Edith Helm.
Click for White House Museum First Lady Page.
Most of the substance of this eRumor appears in a blog on the web site of Dr. Paul L. Williams , Thelastcrusade.org. Williams told TruthorFiction.com that the last paragraph of the forwarded email was added by some unknown author who inserted his own opinion then forwarded the article as though his contribution was a part of the original. The original unchanged version can be found at: William’s blog
The Last Crusade web site, according to its self description is a place for visitors to “engage in the life and death struggle against the forces of Islam, apostasy, moral complacency, cultural relativity, and the New World Order.” Also, it says that they ” abhor the teachings of such spineless and heretical pseudo-Christians as Robert Schuller, Rick Warren, and Joel Osteen.” Dr. Paul L. Williams, according to his web site bio was a former pastor a the Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ in Taylor, PA who vacated his position “because the denomination was spiritually bankrupt.”
updated 08/07/09