My mom just sent this story to me. She thinks it's ridiculous to just throw money at this woman who was too ill to do her other job, much less this new one- just goes to show, cronyism and stupidity know no party- it's everywhere.
My mom said:
"Mrs. Runner, whose husband is a state senator who is pro big business
and firmly against the budget, was a major voice fifteen years ago in
allowing development of a golf course in this area (needing tons of
water) but had an opposite opinion against a farm cooperative that
would have allowed several small farms to get cheaper water from the
aqueduct system.":
Sharon Runner is latest ex-lawmaker to land six-figure California post
ShareThis
By Shane Goldmacher
sgoldmacher@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed yet another termed-out lawmaker to a six-figure post in state government, his sixth such appointment in the past three months.
The latest appointee, former GOP Assemblywoman Sharon Runner of Lancaster, will earn $128,109 as a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which meets publicly twice a month.
The Schwarzenegger appointees – whose combined salaries total more than three-quarters of a million dollars annually – have come as the state is battling record-setting deficits topping $40 billion.
Last week, the Legislature adopted a Schwarzenegger-backed budget plan that contained a wide array of tax hikes and spending cuts in education, health and social services.
"It sends a message that the governor isn't sensitive to the current budget crisis," said Jessica Levinson of the Center for Governmental Studies of the appointments.
The Schwarzenegger administration defended the ex-lawmakers as all qualified for their jobs.
"(The governor is) always looking for the highest and best qualified individuals for these positions," said spokeswoman Rachel Cameron.
In her new post on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Cameron said Runner could draw on her legislative "experience of bringing people together to address the needs of our state" on the board.
But Runner, widely regarded as one of the most amicable lawmakers during her six years in the state Assembly, never served on either the labor or agriculture committees, according to those panels.
In 2008, Runner revealed she had been diagnosed with a rare lung disease, limited scleroderma, with no known cure. She is on a transplant list waiting for two new lungs. The condition caused her to miss many of the final weeks of the end of last year's legislative session.
Cameron said the Governor's Office has "every confidence in her that she'll be able to fulfill all of her obligations on the board."
Runner could not be reached for comment Friday.
Levinson said that while few will have "more experience in the internal workings of the state government than former lawmakers … it's just absolutely not the right time to be appointing people to six-figure positions, which meet 12 to 18 (to 24) times a year."
It "looks like he's just giving plum jobs to those who were loyal to him," she added.
Since December, Schwarzenegger has made the following appointments:
• Former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, as his new director of Regional Development Initiatives in the Central Valley ($128,124 per year);
• Former Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton, to the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, which pays $128,109 a year.
• Former Republican Assembly members Bonnie Garcia and George Plescia to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board. The jobs pay $128,109.
• Former Sen. Carole Migden, a Democrat, to a $132,178 job on the Integrated Waste Management Board.
Four of the appointments were to boards that Schwarzenegger once sought to eliminate, part of his failed plan to "blow up the boxes" of state government.
He once said that "no one paid by the state should make $100,000 a year for only meeting twice a month."
The Democratic leaders of the Legislature also have gotten into the act of appointing their one-time colleagues.
Former lawmakers Sheila Kuehl of Santa Monica and John Laird of Santa Cruz, both Democrats, got positions on the waste board in December, each pulling in salaries above $132,000 per year.
Kuehl said ex-lawmakers get a bum rap from the public.
"I never quite understood the opinion, 'Oh, they were legislators. Oh, they don't know anything about the subject,' " she said. "In my experience, legislators know more about these subjects than people who come in from a more narrow perspective."
Runner already counts the backing of the State Council of Laborers, but opposition to her appointment quickly surfaced Friday.
The United Farm Workers called for the state Senate to reject her appointment, citing a past vote against heat regulations for farmworkers.
Complicating the politics further, Runner's husband, Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, has been an outspoken critic of state government spending.
He declined to comment on his wife's new government post Friday.
"Now is the time to live within ours means," George Runner had said after Schwarzenegger's State of the State speech last month. "We must adopt a spending limit, hold the taxations of our citizens to a minimum and allow government to provide only the most basic needs."
ShareThis
Call Shane Goldmacher, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5544. |
