Malkin, Cunningham push false claim that Michelle Obama's "salary triple[d]" for working "same job" after husband elected to Senate
On his radio show, Bill Cunningham asked conservative columnist Michelle Malkin whether Michelle Obama's University of Chicago Medical Center "salary triple[d]" for working "the same job" "when her husband became a U.S. senator." Malkin replied by citing a chart from her book which falsely claimed that the first lady's salary was $317,000 from 2005 to 2008. In fact, Obama's salary did not increase for working "the same job" -- in 2005, she received nearly $317,000 because of her promotion to vice president, which came with an increase in responsibility, as well as a one-time bonus and pension payout.
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From the August 2 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' Live on Sunday Night, It's Bill Cunningham:
CUNNINGHAM: And Michelle, didn't her salary triple when her husband became a U.S. senator?
MALKIN: Absolutely --
CUNNINGHAM: For the same job?
MALKIN: And you know what? The book is worth the price just for the chart on page 65 that shows how her salary tripled after Barack Obama elected -- was elected to the Senate. And, of course, we know what happened to this job that she had at the University of Chicago Medical Center after she left for the White House with her husband. Guess what? It was so important that they decided not to even fill it again after she left.
CUNNINGHAM: Well, she went from 120 to 317. And when I was reading your book this afternoon, you make a powerful statement on page 188, and I think this demonstrates the hypocrisy of Barack Hussein Obama perhaps more than anything else.
From page 65 of Malkin's book, Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies (Regnery, 2009):
Michelle Obama received pay raise when promoted to vice president
Obama was promoted to vice president of community affairs and head of hospitals' "business diversity program": In announcing her promotion, the University of Chicago Medical Center noted her new title and additional responsibilities: "Michelle Obama has been appointed vice president for community and external affairs at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Obama, who was previously the executive director for community affairs at the Hospitals, will be responsible for all programs and initiatives that involve the relationship between the Hospitals and the community. She will also take over management of the Hospitals' business diversity program." [University of Chicago Medical Center press release; 5/09/05]
Obama's new salary was reportedly in line with those of other hospital vice presidents: According to the Chicago Sun-Times, University of Chicago Hospitals "spokesman John Easton said Obama's salary was in line with the compensation received by the not-for-profit medical center's 16 other vice presidents. A tax return for the hospitals covering the 12 months ended June 30, 2005, shows most of the organization's vice presidents earning between $291,000 and $362,000." (Chicago Sun-Times; 9/27/06)
Michelle Obama made $316,962 for only one year, not three as Malkin writes
Obama's 2005 payment of nearly $317,000 included a one-time pension payout and signing bonus. FactCheck.org reported that in an email, Easton said that the $316,962 the University of Chicago Hospitals paid Obama in 2005 is "misleading" because "the figure 'also includes a performance bonus, a one-time signing bonus (she had other, competing offers at the time), and a one-time mandatory payout from a terminated retirement plan.' "[Barack and Michelle Obama's 2005 federal tax return; FactCheck.org, 5/17/09]
UC Hospitals paid Obama $273,618 in 2006: The Obamas' 2006 federal tax returns show that University of Chicago Hospitals paid Michelle Obama $273,618 in 2006. [Barack and Michelle Obama's 2006 federal tax return]
UC Hospitals paid Obama $103,633 in 2007: According to the Obamas' 2007 federal tax returns, University of Chicago Hospitals paid Michelle Obama $103,633 that year. FactCheck.org reported that according to Easton, in FactCheck.org's words, "Mrs. Obama didn't reduce her work schedule from full time to part time until 2007 when it became clear that her husband would run for president." Easton reportedly wrote in his email: "As she reduced her hours, beginning early in 2007, her salary decreased proportionately...She switched to half time shortly before her husband formally announced his campaign, then to 20% later that year and to 0% in 2008." (Barack and Michelle Obama's 2007 federal tax return; FactCheck.org, 5/17/09)
UC Hospitals paid Obama $62,709 in 2008: According to Barack and Michelle Obama's 2008 federal income tax returns, Michelle Obama was paid $62,709 by the University of Chicago Hospitals in 2008. FactCheck.org reported that, according to Easton, Michelle Obama "took an 'unpaid leave of absence to work on her husband's presidential campaign' in 2008," and the $62,709 payment "consists of accumulated but unused vacation time plus the final payout from a supplemental executive retirement plan." [Barack and Michelle Obama's 2008 federal tax return; FactCheck.org, 5/17/09]
Wouldn't it make a great cable channel though? They could cycle through the stories, CNN-style, repeating the cycle through the day, moving out older ones as newer ones come in!
There's nothing I'd watch more! (Especially if they ran a selected user's comment before the commercial breaks.) ;)
The main problem with having a MMFA/TV channel is there are NO super-rich liberal guys to buy one for us. We have no progressive Rupert Murdocks to control a vast media empire. It's ALL about the MONEY, my children. And who's GOT the MONEY? Right. The RIGHT!
Putting aside that the salary claim is false, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?! Why do they always claim it's hyposcrasy when someone who makes a lot of money wnats to help poor people?! That not HYPOCRISY you jackass, it CHARITY! It's PRINCIPLED! It was JESUS WOULD WANT YOU TO DO!
What the hell is wrong with these people?
Him and Mr. Green Jeans were the dudes.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/07/your_tax_dollars_at_work_suppo.html
I just want to understand why a women that does not have a paid job has the largest staff any first lady has ever had? Since so many companies are cutting back on staff, I think it is time that Michelle had to do the same. Do not see much of a sacerfice.
A few years ago, executives at the prestigious University of Chicago Medical Center were concerned that an increasing number of patients were arriving at their emergency room with what the executives considered to be non-urgent complaints. The visits were costly to the hospital, and many of the patients, coming from the surrounding South Side neighborhood, were poor and uninsured.
Michelle Obama, an executive at the medical center, launched an innovative program to steer the patients to existing neighborhood clinics to deal with their health needs.
...Shortly after Barack Obama joined the U.S. Senate in 2005, the medical center promoted Michelle Obama to vice president of community and external relations, and more than doubled her salary. She is now on leave from the $317,000-a-year post, in which she sought to bridge the gap between the wealthy institution and its poorer neighbors. The hospital declined to discuss the budget for her program or her input into budgetary decisions.
elsewhere... An April 2007 draft report from the medical center's polling firm, Peter D. Hart Research Associates, said focus groups suggested that "enough latent suspicion toward the hospital and university as elitist exists to ensure that a political attack against the Urban Health Initiative as deceptive and self-serving would find fertile ground."
...The vast majority of political contributions from university employees have gone to Democrats, and over the past nine years they have donated at least $373,000 to Barack Obama's campaigns, records show. The university's executive suites are home to a number of the couple's closest friends and financial backers.
The medical center's chairwoman, Valerie Jarrett, is a close friend and top adviser who travels frequently with Barack Obama. One of Barack's best friends, Eric Whitaker, is executive vice president at the center and is now in charge of the Urban Health Initiative. Hospital board member Kelly R. Welsh is executive vice president at Northern Trust Co., which extended the couple a $1.3 million home mortgage shortly after Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. Dan Shomon, Barack Obama's former campaign manager, is a university lobbyist. Jarrett, Whitaker, Welsh and Shomon all declined to be interviewed or did not respond to requests.
The excessive pay to Michelle and the incestuous political/business relationship between Valerie Jarret, Obama, and Michelle definitely have the look of gaming the system while sticking it to the poor in Chicago.
What's your point?
The so called "excessive" pay has already been discussed and debunked, as in, she was a VP. It's not like she was making millions per year.
And the bunk about her not caring about the poor people because she tried to get them to go to clinics for not emergency items. SHOCKING!! You guys just made an argument for nationalized health care.
So they have friends there, and they donated to Obama's campaigns. So what? Nobody did anything wrong, which is what you guys are trying to assert here, but it again, holds no water.
Is that too much to ask?
-AA (via Washington Post)
"Obama's 2005 payment of nearly $317,000 included a one-time pension payout and signing bonus. FactCheck.org reported that in an email, Easton said that the $316,962 the University of Chicago Hospitals paid Obama in 2005 is "misleading" because "the figure 'also includes a performance bonus, a one-time signing bonus (she had other, competing offers at the time), and a one-time mandatory payout from a terminated retirement plan.'"
-MM (Via Factcheck.org)
And AA, what part of "A few years ago, executives at the prestigious University of Chicago Medical Center were concerned that an increasing number of patients were arriving at their emergency room with what the executives considered to be non-urgent complaints. The visits were costly to the hospital, and many of the patients, coming from the surrounding South Side neighborhood, were poor and uninsured.
Michelle Obama, an executive at the medical center, launched an innovative program to steer the patients to existing neighborhood clinics to deal with their health needs" means "So much for Michele's (sic) concern for the poor."
I think that trying to steer non-urgent patients toward neighborhood clinics would ultimately help the poor, no? I mean, it would curtail overall hospital costs somewhat, and that would ultimately drive down costs for the poor. Also, neighborhood clinics have significantly less overhead than hospitals, and can charge cheaper rates for services, especially if it's a non-urgent need.
Oh, and AA, you need to link up, or I'm going to assume that post was a column, and probably by an Insidery snit like Will, Krauthammer or Broder. Thus, totally unreliable as a source of credible information.
AA, surely you don't have a problem with this. If so, I have to say I am disappointed. I expect more from you -- seriously.
Doug
Now, given her status as First Lady (second only to VP in irrelevancy) her ascendancy will be handled with kid gloves. But I do predict an event, in Chicago, in August, apropos of her "over-paid" responsibilities at the University of Chicago Medical Center, which were to bring effective, lower-cost health care in a non-ER setting to people who otherwise possess little or no health care at all (because health-care is,so far, not a right in the wealthiest nation-state in the history of the world).