How annoying is this -- Being asked to take one for the team; then finding out the "team" means the top .05% of Governor Snyder's executives.
Snyder gave John Nixon a double in salary when he hired him from Utah where he was doing same high level budgeting ($124,200 to $280,000 annually). Now consider the excuses for this deal when Michigan's budget is supposed to be so awful.
Snyder gave John Nixon a double in salary when he hired him from Utah where he was doing same high level budgeting ($124,200 to $280,000 annually). Now consider the excuses for this deal when Michigan's budget is supposed to be so awful.
Republican Excuses | And why they are so blatantly lame. |
"He's taking over 2 jobs that paid combined $250,000, so its a savings." | Really, paying a man DOUBLE his old salary is a SAVINGS? If that's the best deal Snyder could make, please keep the him away from any vendor contract negotiations? WHY NOT GIVE OTHER STATE EMPLOYEES PAY RAISE FOR INCREASED WORKLOADS? Following this logic, when we cut all the State employee jobs (you know, the actual workers/doers), Gov. Snyder should follow-up with a big raise for doubling their responsibilities and workload -- perhaps double their annual salary where workload has doubled -- ESPECIALLY after several years of wage & benefit concessions. When we doubled the child abuse & a caseloads, doubled the fire inspections, doubled the welfare fraud cases, asked them to maintain the same rate of drunk driving arrests with half the officers, to handle the same number of foster care payment reimbursements with half staff, etc.; did we double their pay? Surely Snyder plans to at least increased their pay to keep up with inflation? NO?! Republicans did not think it was sufficient for Governor Granholm to cut our public service employees pay through unpaid furlow days, removing cost-of-living increases to keep up with inflation, and increased their medical copayments and deductibles. Their sacrifice will continue to go unappreciated by those at the top and by those served because of their jealousy of anyone with a decent job. This man is not going to be doing double the work. We are getting HALF the work FOR EACH DEPARTMENT, but PAYING FULL dollar for each position. Organizational development, employee productivity, and quality control experts now agree that "doing more with less" is a myth. One man can only be one place at a time, doing one thing at a time. His work will either go undone, including reviewing the validity of budget research, monitoring the details of budget proposals, maintaining efficiency of information systems, etc -- or his work will be pawned off to underlings who did not get a raise and also will be unable to handle extra duties. Holding the top positions is an impending conflict of interest. Budget Director AND Director of Technology, Management, and Budget may mix a little too well -- as in no objectivity or view to front-line services to the people through the Attorney General, Secretary of State, Natural Resources & Public Health. As one commentator asked, "Which department do you think is going to be taken care of during his administration?" Certainly not DHS! |
| "Quality costs money." | This makes zero sense on many levels. If the guy is such great quality, why was he getting half that in Utah, a place in much better financial position to pay a nice big salary? Who else of similar caliber was considered and what was their salary expectation? The truth is either this logic is a big lie/excuse to make sure his buddies live high-on-the-hog while the rest of us "sacrifice" or if valid, then it follows that other civil servants will get raises. Following this Republican logic, shouldn't we increase the pay to the DHS Director, or even better -- to our public servants? Don't we also want quality child protection workers, law enforcement, corrections workers, nursing home inspectors, bank auditors, welfare fraud investigators, consumer protection staff, ...and direct line supervisors? The longevity of workers in some State positions in some locations is only 3 years -- They quit because the pay isn't worth the long hours, intense responsibility, poor training, lack of career mobility, and from stress from customers & clients who have no one else to complain to about continuously reduced services. The good ones leave. Given the examples of how corrupting it is to have government employees making subpar wages (think Mexico & Russia), you'd think there'd be an investment in those positions, as well. Here lies the difference in the Party philosophies and loyalties. It's great to talk with the little guys, get them riled up & hatin' that big bad government-thingy, but the sad truth is they do not value the working stiff. If they did, they'd put their money where their mouth was. No, in Michigan, government employees already earn more than many Right-to-Work-for-Less states in the south. As we are constantly told by the corporate mouthpiece party, line staff grunts don't deserve middle class wages -- even if most are committed college graduates with families; even if first-line workers' salaries stay in Michigan (while the 6 figure guys spend theirs on luxuries & international stock funds); even though workers' pay taxes back into Michigan's coffers because they don't get tax write-offs for items like trips & phones. No, we don't have money to pay our government workers more because of the bad international, national, and state economy...but we do have enough to increase the salary of our executives. |
The only person who took a pay cut was Maura Corrigan, new Director of the Dept. of Human Services -- and her constituents are mostly children, disabled, and elderly who don't vote.
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