In today's Argus Leader, executive editor Randell Beck writes about Mayor Munson's decision to pay his new chief of staff, Jodi Schwan, $98,000 a year. I agree with Beck on this one, that the story is overblown and the outrage at Munson is unreasonable. Excerpt:
But the real reason Dave Munson was able to rise from the ashes was that voters still viewed him as a good and decent man - a fellow who, if he were your neighbor, would keep his lawn trimmed and collect your mail when you're on vacation. In the constellation of dumb reasons we elect people to public office, I suppose that's good enough.
But why, after all that's occurred at City Hall over the past couple of years, turn on the guy now over this silly little thing?
One of the ways Munson regained critical support from the business community during the election was to pledge he'd hire a chief of staff to oversee the increasingly complex operations at City Hall. And to be fair, the mayor has tried to find the South Dakota version of Alexander Haig so that he could do what he does best - act as a round-the-clock ambassador for the city he loves deeply.
He even offered a job to someone who was qualified to be a true chief of staff. Not enough money.
Fact is, in the real world, a chief executive officer for a company of 1,000 employees - that's about how many work for the city - can easily command $150,000 to $200,000. You may have read last week that former Sioux Falls schools superintendent Jack Keegan's been hired to manage an Iowa school district about half the size of this one. His salary: $15,000 a month, plus housing. And that's not unusually high.
Recent Comments