Almost Local Boy Almost Makes Good

John T. Oxtoby, staff assistant to Valerie Jarrett in the Barack Obama White House, saw his name spread all over the Internets today as the White House released salary figures for President Obama's employees.

John T. Oxtoby is the son of Claremont resident David Oxtoby, president of Pomona College. According to the White House list, Oxtoby fil earns $42,000 per year. This is a decimal point away from what the senior Oxtoby pulls down as president of Pomona College: $383,000 plus $70,000 in benefits as of June 30, 2008.

We suppose that $42K is not a bad salary for a guy a couple of years out of college--but looking at the list it seems that $42K is the minimum wage at the WH. Also, the White House has some cachet until you remember that as a staff assistant in intergovernmental relations you have to meet with the likes of Claremont Mayor pro tem Sam Pedroza. Oh well; that's why they call it work.

The real bennie is the contacts. It's not what you know, after all, but who you know.

One interesting aspect is that J. Oxtoby's White House salary was increased from $36K a year ago to $42K this year. We don't know too many people who bagged a 17% raise in last year's economy, but then Government is the fastest-growing sector.

This news item is a near miss both in the Claremont connection--JTO is not Claremont High--and in the "making good" department. But we have to work with what we're given.

A screenshot from The Hill (click to enlarge):