[Vision2020] Public $ervice

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (September 5, 2014) Lewiston Tribune.

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Public $ervice
Marty Trillhaase
JEERS ... to Idaho schools Superintendent Tom Luna. Pore over records on file with the state controller's office and you'll find this: When it comes to handing over your tax dollars to his top lieutenants, no one was more generous than Luna.
Last year, 37 state employees got a temporary boost in their pay rate of more than $5,000.
More than half worked for Luna, who announced on Jan. 27 he would not seek a third term.
Among the recipients:
Jason Hancock, Luna's deputy chief of staff - From March 16 to June 7, Hancock's authorized pay rate jumped from $44.40 an hour to $65.23. Assuming he worked a 40-hour week, Hancock would have been in line to collect an estimated $9,998 extra. On June 8, Luna authorized a permanent 10.8 percent increase in Hancock's base pay, which would have entitled him to collect another $1,924 before Hancock left the department on Aug. 15.
He now makes $125,000 as director of South Dakota's Legislative Research Council. South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard earns only $104,002 a year.
Melissa McGrath, Luna's communications director - From March 16 to June 7, McGrath's authorized compensation went from $36 per hour to $49.54. That would have meant an estimated $5,338 more, providing she put in a full work week.
McGrath left Luna's office on May 23 to take a job as communications director for the Council of Chief State School Officers in Washington, D.C.
None of this is illegal. In fact, state lawmakers have authorized department heads to allocate unspent cash - usually generated from vacant positions - to reward deserving employees.
Elsewhere across state government, the Transportation Department issued five temporary pay raises of more than $5,000, Health and Welfare gave out eight, the Liquor Dispensary allocated three and Fish and Game and the Department of Commerce each gave out one.
Granted, this is all preliminary information. More details will emerge. Luna's office is in the midst of responding to an Aug. 19 records request this newspaper filed. Luna spokesman Brady W. Moore said some staffers "did not receive the full amount as they left prior to the end of the fiscal year. Also, the amounts you quoted included vacation payouts and were not part of the bonus."
Perhaps Luna can enlighten us. While he's at it, here's what we'd like to know:
How does he justify spending that kind of money at the peak of Idaho's education pyramid while Idaho students and teachers contend with one of the most underfunded school systems in the United States?
And how does lavishing so much cash on members of Luna's inner circle - rather than the people doing the heavy lifting at the lower and middle ranks - benefit the Idaho taxpayer?
CHEERS ... to Idaho Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter. He has signed on to four debate appearances this fall:
Oct. 3 at Coeur d'Alene, time and location to be announced.
Oct. 9 at the City Club of Idaho Falls. The session will be rebroadcast on KISU of Pocatello.
Oct. 14 on Boise's KTVB.
Oct 30 on Idaho Public Television's "Idaho Debates," which will air statewide.
Of course, this is what you'd hope to see from a public official - a willingness to answer difficult questions and make his case to the voters without being filtered by media consultants and paid advertising.
But be fair to Otter. He's the Republican incumbent in a state where that's often good enough. He has the most to lose from getting on the forum with Democratic challenger A.J. Balukoff and other third party and independent challengers.
The fact that he's willing to engage in so many debates speaks well of him.
Meanwhile, no word yet on whether U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, will debate his Democratic rival Nels Mitchell on public television.
JEERS ... to Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee Chairman Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa. He's the fellow who was so eager to do the National Rifle Association's bidding on opening Idaho's college campuses to concealed weapons that he shut down a public hearing before opponents could speak.
Those opponents - including college presidents, police, faculty and students - were arguing that Idaho's politicians were playing with dynamite. Critics were worried about how the introduction of concealed guns would affect a community of young people who are dealing with the stresses of being on their own, academics and emotional relationships in an atmosphere of drug and alcohol experimentation.
In spite of those concerns, McKenzie and his colleagues passed the bill into law.
Hardly anyone expected what happened at Idaho State University Tuesday. With about 20 students in the room, Byron Bennett, assistant professor of chemistry, accidentally shot himself in the foot. Bennett, who holds an enhanced conceal/carry permit, had the loaded handgun concealed in his pants pocket.
Think about this.
This was not a student. He was an adult. In a position of authority. In a classroom.
And the semester is just getting started.
What's next?
JEERS ... to House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, and Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg. They control the purse strings on legislative travel.
At the moment, the ethically challenged former speaker, Rep. Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, is being allowed to tour around Idaho on the state's dime - while he's campaigning to become the next secretary of state.
Denney is co-chairman of the Legislature's Federal Lands Interim Committee, which is about to commence a series of public hearings.
It will be at Kamiah and St. Maries on Sept. 11. The panel has added a stop at Sandpoint on Sept. 12.
On Oct. 9, it will swing through Idaho Falls and Soda Springs. The following day, the panel will travel to Twin Falls and Hailey.
Denney could care less about how this looks. But you'd hope for more from Bedke and Hill. Why aren't they pulling the plug on this? - M.T.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"There's room at the top they are telling you still.
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill."

- John Lennon
  
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