|  The Birmingham News is trying to shake off that lapdog image -- they still aren't asking Troy King whether he is planning to resign, but they are digging into the personnel records at the Attorney General's office. This is fertile ground for investigative reporting. You may or may not be surprised who King is hiring and promoting and how much taxpayer money he's paying people with very thin qualifications. Hat tip to Loretta.
Attorney General Troy King used his appointment authority to boost the salaries of top aides, designating one with no legal expertise as a paralegal while dramatically increasing the pay of another just days after that aide finished man aging Kings election campaign. In the case of another aide, King promoted him in steps over nine months from an unpaid summer intern not yet graduated from college to chief aide earning almost as much as entry-level lawyers. King spokesman Chris Bence said several employees were given new titles, which allowed their salaries to be increased to reflect greater duties and responsibilities they had taken on. One of those employees was Bence himself. Bence, 61, serves as Kings spokesman and chief of staff. But that title is not how Bence is classified in state Personnel Department records. He's a paralegal. King sought that designation for Bence this spring although Bence acknowledges he has no legal experience or training. Bences new job title allowed King to increase his salary from just more than $94,000 a year to just more than $104,400.
You think a paralegal ought to have some legal training or experience? Not Mr. Bence. Actually, if you've ever spoken to Chris Bence about King's affairs, you know he's worth every penny. Given Troy Boy's proclivity for controversy, he obviously needs a world class spinmeister and found the money to pay one, by hook or by crook. The most interesting employee pay history uncovered to date is that of J. W. Godwin, the former Homecoming King that rumor has linked to Troy King. Turns out that over 9 months in the AG's office he progressed from unpaid intern, to $10 per hour, to $39,456 per year as a Special Administrative Assistant, to $57,504 per year as Executive Assistant. Between $39K and $57K he graduated from Troy U. with a degree in broadcast journalism. Perhaps hinting that he needs another raise, spinmeister Bence said, "J.W. is an exceptional young man who is the chief aide to the attorney general and who is almost indispensable in terms of the many functions he carries out in this office." Do we have any broadcast journalism grads out there? Is $57,000 a normal starting salary for you guys -- even for a position that doesn't require you to perform functions related to broadcast journalism? BN staff writers Kim Chandler and Charles J. Dean also touch on the career of the man who previously held Godwin's current position, one Kenneth Steely. He at least had a law degree and was making $67K as Troy's Executive Assistant, but he took a leave of absence, and subsequently resigned, to run Troy's 2006 campaign. Very shortly after the election, Troy hired Steely back, with a promotion to Deputy Attorney General with a nice raise to $95,949 a year. Steely resigned again a year later and King has re-hired him again as a contract lawyer, salary unknown. Does this make anyone else think of "I can't quit you?" We already knew Troy King is vastly overpaid as Attorney General, and that isn't his fault, but do Alabama taxpayers have to overpay a whole flock of assistants for him, too? |
