Top Bush aides get small pay boost
Senior White House officials received raises to $161,000 per year at the beginning of July.
The top pay for senior White House aides, including Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Legislative Affairs Director Candida Wolff, was boosted to $161,000 at the beginning of July, according to a list sent to Congress and obtained by National Journal.
The top salary, paid to 19 aides, is up $4,000 from last year, barely matching the annual inflation rate. At the low end of the pecking order, some young staff assistants and correspondence aides earn $30,000 for the honor of sitting on the fringes of history.
Others among President Bush's highest paid advisers are Claude Allen, head of domestic policy; Counselor Dan Bartlett; Jack Crouch, deputy at the National Security Council; Nicolle Devenish, who succeeded Bartlett as head of communications; Michael Gerson, assistant for policy and strategic planning; Stephen Hadley, head of the NSC; Joe Hagin, deputy chief of staff; Al Hubbard, National Economic Council director; and Brett Kavanaugh, White House staff secretary.
Also compensated as assistants to Bush are I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to the vice president; Scott McClellan, press secretary; William McGurn, chief speechwriter; Harriet Miers, White House counsel; Jim Towey, director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives; Fran Townsend, homeland security and counter-terrorism director; and Liza Wright, the new head of presidential personnel.
The full list is available at Nationaljournal.com.