News

Former Sandburg chief in spotlight with Trump paycheck

Tyrone Brandyburg watches as Sean Spicer turns over President Trump's paycheck.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 3, 2017

Tyrone Brandyburg, who served as superintendent of Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site for more than four years, had a cameo in political theater Monday when he represented the National Park Service as it accepted President Trump’s donation of his first presidential paycheck.
Trump received a paycheck for $78,333 for the period from his inauguration on Jan. 20 through March 31 and signed it over to the Interior Department. Critics pointed out that the donation would restore .005 percent of the $1.6 billion the Interior Department would lose if Congress enacted Trump's recommended budget.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said the money would go to the National Park Service to make a small dent in a big backlog of work. The park service has $229 million worth of deferred maintenance at 25 national battlefields, Zinke said.
Brandyburg, a 32-year National Park Service veteran, left his Flat Rock post on Feb. 24 to take over as superintendent of the Harpers Ferry historic site in West Virginia.
He stood between Zinke and White House press secretary Sean Spicer during the six-minute ceremony and held the over-sized check for a photo but did not speak.
During the campaign, Trump vowed that he would not take the $400,000 annual salary as president if elected and repeated that promise after his victory in November. After consulting with legal counsel, Trump agreed to make the donation to a government agency.