Less than a week after Karl Rove jumped ship from the Bush Administration, Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, is bailing as well. To his credit, though, he’s not trotting out the old “spending more time with the family” canard. No, his justification is quite straightforward and refreshingly believable:
White House press secretary Tony Snow said Friday he’ll leave before the end of the Bush presidency because he needs to make more money.
“I’m going to stay as long as I can,” he said without elaborating on a departure date.
[…] The 52-year-old Snow, the father of three children, earns $168,000 as an assistant to the president but made considerably more as a conservative pundit and syndicated talk-show host on Fox News Radio. He was named press secretary on April 26, 2006.
White House press secretaries in recent administrations have found the speechmaking circuit to be lucrative once they’ve stepped down. Snow was eagerly sought by Republican audiences before the elections last year, and in a break with tradition he made a number of fundraising speeches for GOP candidates.
Egads. Only $168K? What sort of penny-ante White House is the GOP running?
(via Les)