Sneed: Axelrod says Politico story inflated his pay as adviser to Brit Labour party leader

The Axe man . . .

Yipes! Was former top Obama strategist and White House senior adviser David Axelrod paid $454,000 bucks to advise Brit Labour party leader Ed Miliband, as Politico reports?

“That number is way inflated. I did the race in conjunction with other consultants,” Axelrod emailed Sneed.

We, ahem, presume that Axelrod, who is this/close to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, gave him free advice during the last weeks of Rahm’s hotly contested mayoral election?

Axelrod tells Politico his theory about politics is: “You’re never as smart as you look when you are winning, and you’re never as dumb as you look when you are losing. . . . Personalities aren’t that important.”

Is that why he had to practically hogtie Rahm’s temper during the last weeks of the election?

There ya go.

Attention!

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., 59, who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next leader of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the son of a retired Boston cop.

Hmmmm . . .

Sneed is still trying to figure out which daughter first lady Michelle Obama was referring to when she described one of the two first daughters as “Grumpy Cat” and a “salty biscuit” during her appearance recently on “The Tonight Show with David Letterman,” who is retiring May 20. Would that be Malia, 16, or Sasha, 13?

NFL notes . . .

Who knew? Before his time as Chicago’s banker, City Treasurer Kurt Summers was called off the sidelines to coach NFL players on preparing for life after the gridiron.

While attending Harvard Business School, Summers was part of Harvard’s inaugural NFL Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program, where he tutored Pat Terrell of Notre Dame fame — who went on to play in the NFL for 10 years — and former Chicago Bear Ruben Brown in tackling their financial futures.

• Backshot: At the time, Terrell had just retired and Brown was still a Monster of the Midway. Today, Terrell owns a construction materials company in Chicago.

The fit file . . .

In case you were wondering, President Obama’s fitness guru, Cornell McClellan, tells TMZ Sports his client still likes to be “pushed hard,” is “raging against death at this point,” and his “six-pack is intact.” Such a relief.

He’s Magic . . .

It was magic: Legendary Los Angeles Laker Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who has been investing in Chicago, stunned an audience Tuesday night when he donated $1 million at a fundraiser gala for OneGoal Chicago — a nonprofit group that helps low-income students graduate from college.

Johnson, who has been in the process of diversifying his assets outside southern California, announced last year he was opening up an EquiTrust Life Insurance Co. office in Chicago. Johnson funds causes dedicated to helping at-risk kids and has donated heavily to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s re-election campaign.

There ya go.

I spy . . .

Former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize recipient F.W. de Klerk had dinner at Gibsons Steakhouse’s private dining room on Saturday . . . Rapper Common stopped by Chicago Cut for lunch on Saturday. . . And bikini model Kate Upton had dinner with her beau, Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, at the eatery Sunday. . . . ESPN sportscasters Mark Jackson and Chris Berman celebrated an early birthday for Chris at Gibsons on Rush on Tuesday . . . NFL great Terry Bradshaw dined with his agent at Chicago Cut Steakhouse last week . . . And actress Lori “A League of Their Own” Petty dined in the piano bar at Gibsons Steakhouse in Rosemont on Saturday.

Sneedlings . . .

Congratulations to Edward F. McElroy and his beloved wife, Rita Marie, on their 60th wedding anniversary. Ed says they’ve had such a successful marriage because they were married by three priests — one of whom was the late, legendary Monsignor Ignatius McDermott, who saved many a soul on the old Skid Row . . . Thursday’s birthdays: Traci Lords, 47; Breckin Meyer, 41, and Robin Strasser, 70.