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NY Times, July 14 2016
A Haircut for French Taxpayers? Hollande’s $10,000-a-Month Stylist Is
Revealed
By AURELIEN BREEDEN
President François Hollande, center left, at the Élysée Palace in Paris
after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Credit Charles Platiau/Reuters
PARIS — As heads of state go, this one appears to be quite expensive.
The investigative and satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchaîné reported on
Wednesday that President François Hollande’s personal hairdresser has
been paid 9,895 euros — over $10,000 — per month since Mr. Hollande was
elected in 2012, about the same amount as a government minister’s salary.
The report is especially jarring for Mr. Hollande, 61, a Socialist who
campaigned on the promise that he would be a “normal” and exemplary
president but who has seen his private life spill into the open on
several occasions.
It would be hard for Mr. Hollande to be less popular. His approval
ratings, while receiving a bump from the Euro 2016 soccer tournament,
have been persistently low. He has been forced to agree to a primary
among left-leaning parties, including his own Socialists, to settle on a
candidate for president next year — a first for a sitting president.
Mr. Hollande has not managed to deliver on his promise to significantly
lower unemployment, especially among young people. His government has
faced months of street protests over an unpopular bill to loosen
France’s rigid labor laws. And he faces a potential challenge from his
economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, who has hinted that he may run for
president next year.
The new controversy — the hashtag #CoiffeurGate, “coiffeur” being French
for hairdresser, was a trending topic on Twitter on Wednesday — could
contribute to the image as a president who is out of touch.
Mr. Hollande is certainly not the first politician to encounter problems
with hairdressing.
In 1993, two of Los Angeles International Airport’s runways were shut
for nearly an hour so that President Bill Clinton’s Beverly Hills
hairstylist could come aboard Air Force One to give him a haircut. In
2007, John Edwards, a former senator, had to reimburse his presidential
campaign $800 to cover the cost of two haircuts. The Republican
vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin spent tens of thousands of dollars
on hair and makeup in the homestretch of her 2008 campaign.
In France, opposition center-right and far-right parties were,
unsurprisingly, critical of Mr. Hollande, and while reactions in his own
party were more muted, some struck a harsher tone.
“That’s a lot of money for a hairdresser, and for the French in
general,” Thierry Mandon, the junior minister for higher education and
research, told the LCP news channel. “For many people in France that
really, really, really is a lot of money.”
Still, the revelations have yet to morph into a full-blown political
scandal in France, where the financial excesses or abuses of politicians
are sometimes met with a shrug. On Twitter, French observers expressed a
mixture of amusement and outrage.
“When my 2,600 euros of income tax represent one week of the
hairdresser’s salary #CoiffeurGate #shameful,” one user wrote.
“#CoiffeurGate — ah, now I finally understand the expression ‘budgetary
cuts,’” mused another. Some photoshopped royal wigs, mullets or toupées
onto the French president’s sparsely adorned head.
The hairdresser, identified by Le Canard Enchaîné only as Olivier B.,
was first mentioned in a book by two French journalists published in
April that aimed to give a behind-the-scenes look at the Élysée Palace,
the presidential residence.
The book identified the hairdresser as Olivier Benhamou, and said that
his monthly salary was 8,000 euros. When the tabloid magazine Closer
wrote an article using that information, Mr. Benhamou sued them; that
case is pending.
The work contract Mr. Benhamou signed with the Élysée Palace was
recently introduced as evidence in a French court as part of that case,
and was obtained by Le Canard Enchaîné, which used it as the basis of
its report.
The contract was signed by Mr. Hollande’s former chief of staff. It is
unclear whether Mr. Hollande knew how much the hairdresser is paid. On
Wednesday evening, Valérie Trierweiler, Mr. Hollande’s former companion,
wrote on Twitter: “Let’s be fair: F. Hollande was not aware of the
hairdresser’s salary. I can attest to his anger when he learned about it
later.”
The Élysée Palace confirmed the report, telling Le Canard Enchaîné that
Mr. Benhamou started his days very early and that “he redoes the
president’s hair every morning and as much as needed, for each public
statement.”
A 2015 report by the Cour des Comptes, the French organization that
conducts financial audits of the state and other public institutions,
found that personnel spending at the Élysée Palace in 2014 — 68.2
million euros, out of the palace’s overall budget of 100 million euros —
had fallen by 1.6 percent from the previous year and that staff numbers
had been cut.
Follow Aurelien Breeden on Twitter @aurelienbrd.
Lilia Blaise and Benoît Morenne contributed reporting.
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