We talked earlier today about the problems new Colorado Senate President Brandon Shaffer had this week over two issues: the first being a ‘conflict resolution’ retreat for Democratic committee chairs and staff that has now been rebilled to the party instead of the taxpayers, and the second being a smaller scandal surrounding bonuses given primarily to the staff of former Senate President Peter Groff, who resigned to take a job in the Obama administration.
The bonus scandal, as we said, seems to be limited to Groff and his staff–current President Shaffer gave his low-paid part time staffer a bonus, but the lion’s share of bonuses went to Groff’s leadership staff. As has been noted Republicans did not give their staff any bonuses this year, though in prior years–including 2008–they gave considerably larger bonuses to their staff than Democrats.
But we also told you that Republicans would not hesitate to exploit this gaffe for everything it’s worth, past history or no–and true to form, this breathless statement went up on the Senate Minority’s website this morning.
“Revelations about bonuses recently awarded to Senate Democrat staff in the General Assembly came as an affront to the many, many Coloradans who have faced the threat of furloughs, pay cuts and layoffs amid our nation’s devastating recession,” the senators write in their letter. “So, we were dismayed to learn that your administration has not suspended the same practice, or at least established clear guidelines.”
The Associated Press reported earlier this week that Ritter’s chief of staff, Jim Carpenter, said Ritter is trying to discourage executive directors from giving bonuses this year, but he can’t guarantee they haven’t been handed out.
A good tack moving this away from Shaffer and Groff (not targets) to Governor Bill Ritter (GOP Public Enemy #1), and we’ll see what comes out–you can be assured that the press won’t be waiting for the Senate Minority’s press release to find out about any executive branch bonuses.
But there is one little detail in this latest exchange that we think merits pointing out–the ‘policy director’ of the Senate Minority Office and the closest thing they have to a chief of staff, Dan Njegomir, is the guy responsible for approval of external communications from the office. While we’re talking about expenses and bonuses, somebody might ask Njegomir how he’s enjoying the highest salary of any staffer in Senate leadership from either party–and how he spent last year’s $12,000 bonus, which we believe holds the record for the biggest bonus given to Senate staff in either party. Check out former Minority Leader Andy McElhany’s letter authorizing the payment of 2008’s GOP Senate bonuses after the jump.
As we’ve said from the beginning, the Democrats won’t fully escape criticism for paying these bonuses in a fiscally bleak year, and Republicans would be fools not to extract as much damage from the situation as they can. But their own history on bonuses prevents them from taking this beyond a certain point, after which they begin to look like opportunistic hypocrites. It’s not for us to make the call where that point is, but you’ll know it when you see it.
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Don’t they report to Ritter?
Buying the GOP frame again, Dave. Department heads have autonomy and most of the time Republicans say that’s a good thing. It’s possible there will be some bonus money out there, let each one be justified and let the people who made the decision take their lumps. It’s not bonus season right now that’s for sure.
If Democrats are going to take heat for this, as they probably should, I think that the GOP historical bonuses, and Njegomir’s (thank goodness for copy and paste) salary, should be pointed out every time. And Owens’ giant bonuses as he left office, anybody remember that?
It is deserved heat for Democrats given the timing and the state of the budget, but it’s tit for tat bullshit over tiny amounts of money after the rhetoric is done. It will become hypocrisy for Republicans after too many repetitions, just as Pols said.
Bonusing effective staff is a private sector concept to incentivize organizational productivity–and increasing productivity is the path back to arighting economy-wide productivity. Equalizing compensation for your stars and your mediocrities will eventually lead to an organization consistently strictly of mediocrities.
One of the big reasons our country’s economy is so fucked right now is that the titans of industry were being incentivized to run their megacorporations into the ground–which they promptly did before floating away under their golden parachutes. The reward-to-performance ratio is/was completely irrational. But that’s another subject.
It’s that in the executive administration, just as in a company, the person at the top should be able to make decisions that are implemented. But “trying to discourage” – that’s lame.
As Governor, Ritter could just flat-out say that he was ordering NO BONUSES for the year…if that’s what he wanted to do. But dancing around it by “trying to discourage” is like saying you’re “trying to lead.” You do or you don’t.
sounds like you summed up Governor Ritter’s first term nicely.
But BULLSHIT.
Autonomy is relative.
If they serve at the pleasure of Ritter, then they should be on board with what he says he wants from the executive branch.
The buck has to stop somewhere. In the executive branch, it stops with Ritter.
Democrats are going to take heat for this as long as they do it. If they don’t want to take heat, then they shouldn’t do it. It’s actually pretty simple.
Autonomy is relative, and some leaders command less than others. Maybe that’s part of the problem in this case, I don’t know.
I highly doubt they will pay bonuses next year.