Critics slam Deval Patrick over hiring spree
1,300 jobs filled in ’09
By Joe Dwinell and Hillary Chabot
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
http://www.bostonherald.com
The Patrick administration filled more than 1,300 state jobs this year - including a librarian for cons, a painter for hospitals and a “game biologist” - in a hiring frenzy that has watchdogs questioning whether the governor has a tight grip on hiring in the face of a dire fiscal crisis.
A Herald payroll analysis also indicates scores of the lucky job-seekers also gave generously to Gov. Deval Patrick’s election campaign.
The hiring flurry is alarming state budget observers who slammed the governor for dishing out plum posts - including 20 that carry salaries of $100,000 or more - with no apparent rhyme or reason.
“In the middle of this fiscal meltdown there should be a close scrutiny of new hires, and that doesn’t seem to be reflected here,” said Michael Widmer, executive director of the business-based Massachusetts Taxpayers Association.
The list of new hires obtained by the Herald shows jobs spread out across executive offices:
A $78,000-a-year teacher and a $47,400-a-year librarian for the Department of Correction, two of 200 prison employees hired;
A $31,000-a-year painter for the Department of Public Health, which also added a physician specialist for $210,500 - the top-paid hire this year;
A $44,307-a-year game biologist for the Department of Fish and Game;
And a $206,000-a-year commissioner of higher education and a $117,000 elementary education administrator.
In all, the state has added $46 million in new hires from January to November, the Herald review shows.
The governor’s aides defended their actions, noting that the administration has since laid off 236 of the recent hires.
“The vast majority of new workers have been hired to backfill necessary or critical positions,” said Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez in a statement.
He added the governor has cut his own staff by 15 and is working with unions on other concessions, including up to nine days of furloughs.
All told, Gonzalez said the governor has eliminated 1,930 positions, “far exceeding” his goal set last fall in response to a $600 million budget gap.
Still, critics say Patrick’s seemingly haphazard hiring process is flawed.
“It’s frustrating. The administration is slow to do what is being done in the private sector,” said House Minority Leader Bradley Jones (R-North Reading).
“Where is the paper trail?” Jones added, saying new hires may be needed in some cases, but the process is not transparent.
The Herald review also shows that dozens of the new hires contributed to Patrick’s campaign, including six who have given $1,000 and more since 2006.
A Patrick aide told the Herald those who gave to the governor’s war chest and scored jobs share “a common vision for ways we can move the commonwealth forward.”
The DOC librarian, an aide argued, fills the “bare-minimum requirement” to educate cons to avoid being bounced back inside. And it comes as DOC must trim $6.7 million off its books.
Other department spokesmen argued yesterday the crime lab technicians, swine-flu investigators and guards just hired are all that’s keeping the germs and bad guys from gaining ground during a grim economy.
Mass. Taxpayers Association director Michael Widmer criticizes Patrick administration for hiring 1,300 new workers during budget crisis
By The Associated Press
December 15, 2009, 1:01PM
BOSTON – A government watchdog group is criticizing the administration of Gov. Deval L. Patrick for hiring more than 1,300 new state workers making a combined $46 million this year even as the state faces a $600 million budget gap.
Michael J. Widmer, executive director of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Association, told the Boston Herald there needs to be better scrutiny of new state hires during a financial crisis.
The Herald reported Tuesday that 20 of the new hires are making six-figure salaries, and six gave $1,000 or more to the Democratic governor’s campaign.
A Patrick aide defended the hires, saying most were made to fill critical positions and more than 230 have since been laid off. Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez says the governor has eliminated 1,930 state positions since last fall.
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