ADELE FERGUSON - Pay for governor, staff reflect big gains

IT WAS A SHOCK, really, to see in the listing of salaries for Gov. Christine Gregoire and her top nine staff members that every one of them made more than Gov. Al Rosellini and his whole office back in the 1960s.

Gregoire’s salaries ran in February Building Insight, the publication of the Building Industry Association of Washington which was taking issue with the eternal sob story of needy state workers, over 20,000 of whom will get 5 percent raises this year despite the record unemployment and poor economy.

The listing was by annual salaries so I had to divide each by 12 in order to make a comparison to what I have written previously on what their predecessors got paid. Here are the main ones: governor, $13,908 a month; chief of staff, $13,588; legislative director, $11,918; legal counsel, $11,583; deputy chief of staff, $10,923; communications director, $10,486; director of external affairs, $10,486; another deputy chief of staff, $9,699, and budget manager, $7,407. Gregoire’s staff numbers 35 plus two ombudsmen.

OK, now let’s go back to when Rosy made do with only nine staffers. He got $1,875 a month and the staff consisted of an administrative assistant, $1,250; legal assistant, $715; press assistant, $800; personal secretary and a secretary-receptionist. $564 each; two secretaries and an accountant clerk, $407 each, clerk receptionist, $373. Their salaries totaled $7,362, the bunch as a whole paid less than Gregoire’s budget man.

DAN EVANS took over in 1965 and got his staff up to 13 by the start of his second term and to 38 for his third term with another 38 hid out in the Office of Economic opportunities. Evans’ monthly pay was $2,708. In his third term, he was paying his administrative assistant $2,360. He had two legal assistants at $1,845 and $1,587; two press assistants at $1,587 and $659. He had an executive assistant at $1,587 and a staff assistant at $1, 244.Three special assistants got $1,416 each and two office managers, $909 and $824.

Evans’ successor, Dixy Lee Ray, had a staff of 32, highest paid her executive assistant Paul Bender at $3,958. Her “counselor,” actually an advisor. Louis Guzzo, was paid $3,377. Her legal counsel, Jerry Hanna, got $2,918. The press folks got about $2,000, the chief clerical staff just over $1,000 and secretaries, etc., just under that.

Gov. John Speilman had a staff of 42. I’ll never forget the gleam in the eye of his successor, Booth Gardner, when I asked him if he planned to have that many. “Did he have 42?” he asked. “We couldn’t identify that many.” It wasn’t long before there were 42 on Gardner’s staff and a bunch more hid out in the Office of Financial Management. Gardner, who ran for governor with the slogan, “He’s never had a press agent and never needed one,” had seven press people, the top guy making $4,406 a month.

Gov. Mike Lowry had a staff of 43.

THEN ALONG CAME Gary Locke, paying his chief of staff $10,546, which was almost what the governor made, $11,330. He also had an administrator at $6,039. He had four ombudsmen — employees who listen to and try to resolve constituent complaints about government, one specializing in family/child affairs. They got from $4,291 to $4,828. He had his own wetlands habitat specialist at $4,172, a science coordinator and a whole slew of executive assistants, liaisons, analysts., etc. Gary knew how to spend money.

It used to be said that public employees should make less than those in the private sector because they had better job security, benefits and pensions, but as I understand it public jobs now outnumber the privates so you don’t hear that any more.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.)