McCain Pays Female Staffers Better Than Obama

During the Democratic Convention in Denver last month, many of the speakers made calls for equal pay for women. Sen. Barack Obama himself mentioned equal pay in his acceptance speech, and has made the call for pay equity a staple of his stump speech. But Obama's rhetoric does not match his deeds when it comes to female staffers in his his Senate office. According to the non-partisan LegiStorm watchdog group, female employees in Obama's office make on average just 83 cents for every dollar that a male staffer makes.

Obama's 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama's average male employee earned $54,397.

Obama's 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.

[O]n average, Obama's female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama's campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1.

By contrast, female employees of Sen. John McCain fare much better. They actually average more in salary, $55,878, than their male counterparts. Women in McCain's Senate office make $1.04 for every dollar men take home. Furthermore, LegiStorm's figures show that McCain places more women in positions of influence than Obama does. Of Sen. Obama's twenty highest paid advisers, just seven are women. McCain counts 13 women among his 20 highest paid staffers. McCain certainly seems to be comfortable with women in positions of power, as evidenced by his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Should they be elected, Palin will be the highest ranking, and highest paid, woman in the federal government.

Since declining to select Sen. Hillary Clinton as his running mate, Sen. Obama has been slipping in his support among women, and in particular white women. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows McCain opening up a 13 point advantage over Obama among the critically important group. Some of that is due to the Palin effect. But undoubtedly, some can be attributed to disappointment among Clinton supporters that their candidate was passed over for the number two slot. The news that Obama pays his female staffers significantly less than the men in his office, and that McCain pays his more, will not help Obama to win back the affections of women voters.