Highest Paid McCain Staffer In October Was Makeup Artist?
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Bad Decisions, Palin
She’s doing one hell of a job, but come on…this is crazy.
Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staff member. It was Amy Strozzi, who was identified by the Washington Post this week as Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.
Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?â€, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “PERSONNEL SVC/EQUIPMENT.â€
The payment on Oct. 10 made Ms. Strozzi the single highest-paid individual in the campaign for that two-week period. (There were more than two dozen companies that got larger payments than Ms. Strozzi). She easily beat out Mr. Scheunemann, who received $12,500 in the first half of October, and Ms. Wallace, who got $12,000.
$11,400 a week for makeup? Extrapolate that out over the course of a year, and they’re making $592,800. Know how much the President makes? $400,000 plus benefits. Now, those are some great benefits, but it should still give you some perspective about how out of whack the makeup number is.
Priorities, priorities, priorities.
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October 24th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Gee Justin, you would have thought you had sent them some of your own money! :-)
(I’ll assume you haven’t.)
October 24th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Rich, I really am shocked at your apologist attitude for this type of activity. I think the point is, that republicans tend to hoot and holler when they find this type of activity in Dem campaigns.
October 24th, 2008 at 9:45 am
[...] is doing too badly. I heard that Sarah Palin’s makeup artiste made over $20,000 the first two weeks of October alone. [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Imagine how much they must be paying her B.S. artist….Now if the campaign had tutor on board to teach her what the job requirements are for the position she is seeking…
David (deeply and profoundly amused…in Texas)
October 24th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Why? I’ve never complained about Barack and his fine Italian suits, or his gracing the cover of that noted policy wonk publication GQ. For folks who often lament about trivial matter distracting us from “real issues” I find this a particularly weak brew. So, I’m doing nothing but agreeing with “old Justin” who would have said “well, if this floats your boat…good luck with THAT.”
My comment was pointing out that if anyone has the right to complain it would be those who “invested” in the campaign. As one of those people, the spending of 1/10th of one percent on this kind of stuff doesn’t bother me. (Granted I’m not the type to go on and on about expensive haircuts either.)
The Onion right now has a audio clip entitled Palin Family Just Sitting Around Living Room Eating Jerky. Even the title is pretty funny…but if the GOP thinks they need to sophisticate Palin up to broaden her appeal, so be it.
Its great that everyone is so concerned about my sensibilities, but really I dont offend so easily.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Hello to Rich Horton.
Barack Obama PAYS for his own suits. He doesn’t use campaign money to do it.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Hello Mark, Obama is a multi-millionaire and Palin isn’t.
I would have thought you would have been happy that Republicans had to spend such money on clothes and not, for example, TV time.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
It’s takes a LOT of money to put a lipstick on a pig :-)
No seriously, as an Obama supporter who rarely wears makeup, I’ll be the first to say that Palin is being judged through a different lens that the men around her. If she didn’t have a good, classy wardrobe, people would make jokes about THAT. Presumably the makeup artist travels with her, and that costs, too. As an interpreter, when I have to travel with clients I bill them 1/2 interpreting rate for sleeping in the next room, far away from home. It adds up.
Focus on the issues, folks. High fashion isn’t one of them. I like the way Palin looks, but I don’t like what she has to say.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
The point about all of this is not that she should not be spending something that looks like a considerable chunk of change on this but that she is over doing it. Professional women in this country manage to dress themselves on much less. Plus one of palins weaknesses is that people think she is a pretty ornament not qualified for the office and letting her run up a huge bill on makeup and clothes fits right into that. It would have been better had she challenged the idea that she needs to look like a model to get elected. Plenty of other female politicians in this country manage to get to it.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull?
Apparently $22,800 worth of lipstick.
October 25th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
It just continues to illustrate McCain’s suddenly nonsensical sense of judgement. Spending such substantial sums of money on things which simply do nothing to benefit his message nor his campaign only fuels the democrats’ fire in arguing that McCain is not making good choices. Let’s be totally candid, the highest paid person on any campaign -especially in the volitile month of October- needed to be an economic advisor! Clearly the McCain camp has missed the bus. It will not surprize me if it costs him the election. Such a colossally bad decision should. I am reconsidering Obama. I am SO disappointed and it has become apparent that questions about McCain’s judgement may be valid.