Maria's Staff

Hmmm...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot call for California to live within its means is triggering questions about whether his own administration is living within its means -- especially when it comes to his wife, Maria Shriver.

Shriver doesn't hold elected office, but records show she does command a half-million-dollar-a-year staff -- which, depending on how you cut it, is anywhere from $60,000 to $180,000 more than what her predecessor, Sharon Davis, had.

Recently, Daniel Zingale -- a Democratic gay rights advocate who had been working on Controller Steve Westly's gubernatorial campaign -- was appointed Shriver's $123,255 chief of staff. When he takes over Nov. 1, he will be earning about $30,000 more than Davis' top aide, Trish Fontana, was paid.

[snip]

Then there's Shriver's $100,000-a-year press secretary and events coordinator, Terri Carbaugh. Her position, we're told, didn't exist during the Davis years.

Back then, media duties for the first lady were handled on an as-needed basis by the governor's press office.

Even critics concede that the demands on Shriver -- an ex-network TV journalist and wife of a Hollywood celebrity -- exceed those of former first ladies.

"But don't tell everyone else to live within their means when you can't do it yourself,'' said Steve Maviglio, press aide under former Gov. Gray Davis and now a spokesman for the Democratic labor coalition fighting the governor's November initiatives.

Amazing.