The ten highest-paid employees of the state Assembly are all men. According to state payroll records for the period ending on May 31, 2013, the highest-paid employees of the lower house, along with their titles and monthly salaries, are as follows:- Christopher Woods, Chief Consultant, $16,123.00
- Greg Campbell, Speaker’s Chief of Staff, $15,834.00
- Jon Waldie, Chief Administrative Officer, $15,100.00
- Gus Demas, Fiscal Officer, $14,895.00
- Richard Simpson, Chief Consultant, $14,734.00
- Arnold Sowell, Chief Consultant, $14,734.00 Christian Griffith, $14,676.00
- Geoffrey Long, Chief Consultant, $14,634.00
- Edward “Dotson” Wilson, Chief Clerk, $14,414.00
- James Deboo, Director of Majority Consultants, $13,750.00
Fredericka McGee, the speaker’s legal counsel, is the highest-paid woman on the Assembly’s payroll at #11 overall. She earns $28,752 less per year than the Assembly’s highest-paid man. That equates to roughly 85 cents for every dollar earned by Christopher Woods.
The legislature’s pay inequity at the top comes one day after Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg urged the Capitol to “talk about gender, talk about the biases we all hold,” according to the LA Times.
Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, who leads the California Women’s Legislative Caucus, believes the legislature has failed to deliver pay equity.
“We need to hire more women on our staffs, we need to bring in young women as interns. We don’t have equality here in the Capitol,” she told the Times.
In November 2011, the Assembly began increasing staff salaries after a three-year pay freeze, according to the Sacramento Bee’s Jim Sanders. However, the legislature has failed to use those raises to deliver pay equity.
