JD, the focus of my post was twofold, neither about the money per se:
--that politics is all about "winning" now, not doing what is right
--that she has hardly shown up in DC and is already giving indications that she is a pompous jerk the way she treats staff and "ordinary people".
As to the army promoting her to O-5, that says she probably wasn't stupid, but my point was not whether she was smart.