The new chair of Washington state’s Republican party accused her colleagues this week of playing into the “war on women” narrative against the GOP by denying her equal pay for equal work.
Susan Hutchison pulls in a salary of $75,000 a year — a $20,000 cut from the salary earned by her male predecessor — and tried unsuccessfully to request a pay raise last weekend, according to an internal party memo sent Monday and obtained by the Seattle Times.
“The pay cut defies the concept of equal pay for equal work, playing into the ‘war on women’ narrative against Republicans,” Hutchison wrote in the memo, as quoted by the newspaper. She also argued the vote to deny the pay raise violated the party’s bylaws and could be construed as “discriminatory and vindictive.”
The state GOP’s executive board had been cut due to budget issues just prior to Hutchison’s election to the chair position in August, according to the Times.
Anonymous Republican sources told the newspaper that Hutchinson’s “war on women” accusation rankled some leaders in the party, as the salary level of the state party chair had long been a subject of discussion among its leaders.
For her part, Hutchinson told the Times on Wednesday that she was setting the matter aside.
“I’m sure that as time goes on and as people become more confident in our ability to raise money and so forth, we’ll all take a look at it again,” she said.
[h/t Mother Jones]
