After Getting Caught on ‘Equal Pay’ Hypocrisy, AZ Dem Uses VooDoo Math

Yesterday, after getting caught in a web of hypocrisy on pay equality, Arizona Democrat Ron Barber made matters worse – twisting the math and changing the rules of the game to make himself look better in a laughable response to revelations that he is only paying women in his office 84 cents on the dollar under a formula he has touted.

But rather than continue to make things up, Barber should come clean and either admit that he’s not living up to the pay formula he has endorsed – or he should retract his Arizona Daily Star op-ed. If Ron Barber thinks this is fuzzy math – well, it is Ron Barber’s math.

As NRCC Commucations Director Andrea Bozeks said: “Ron Barber is now worse than a hypocrite. Barber is deliberately misleading reporters, the press and his constituents. He should retract his op-ed and come clean. Barber is the one who has touted this formula for determining pay equality, so it’s only fair that it should apply it to him, too.”

In his April 15 Daily Star op-ed, Barber stated: “Nationally, women today earn 77 cents for every $1 earned by a man — for no reason other than their gender. In Arizona we are doing slightly better; a woman earns 82 cents for every $1 paid to a man. But any gap based on gender is inexcusable.”

The statistic, prompted by the White House and many Democrats, is from census data. It is determined by taking the median salaries of full-time, year-round men and women workers. The census defines full-time, year-round workers as: “All people 16 years old and over who usually worked 35 hours or more per week for 50 to 52 weeks in the past 12 months.”

When you apply that exact formula to Barber’s office, he is only paying women 84 cents on the dollar. The median salary for a full-time, year-round female staffer in Barber’s office last year was $45,744.41, compared to $54,694.41 for a man. The White House also garnered press for their own double-standard on this issue.

In Barber’s response, to cushion his numbers, he uses the AVERAGE – not the median salary. He also includes 11 staffers who do not fit full-time, year-round status.

If that’s the statistic Barber prefers, than it’s the one he should have used in his April 15 Daily Star op-ed – but it’s not.