Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises — some of more than 20 percent — to his staff while proclaiming a message of “shared sacrifice” and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises — some of more than 20 percent — to his staff while proclaiming a message of "shared sacrifice" and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt. The Democrat has given 43 salary increases averaging 11.4 percent to 35 staffers in the past 15 months, according to an Associated Press analysis of records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. They include a $24,000-a-year bump for the man promoted to shepherd the state through the fiscal storm. Budget Director David Vaught got a 20 percent raise to $144,000 in October when he moved from senior adviser to Quinn. Quinn’s office said the raises did not prevent him from making deep spending cuts in both the governor’s office and his Office of Management and Budget. But lawmakers, whom Quinn has asked to raise income taxes and borrow billions to meet its obligations for employee pensions reacted with skepticism and anger. "It’s insulting," said Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat who voted "no" on Quinn’s proposal to borrow $3.7 billion for the pension payment that the House OK’d but Senate has not. "It shows how out of touch he is with the real world, where businesses are freezing salaries and in some cases laying people off," Franks said. Half of the raises are the result of promotion or a change in job title, Quinn’s spokeswoman Marlena Jentz said. But others were reported as "salary adjustments," such as a 10.4 percent bump in January for deputy budget director Gladyse Taylor, to $110,000, and a 7 percent jump in May 2009 to bring associate budget director Malcolm Weems’ pay to $92,000. They were based on "re-evaluated work output, additional duties and overall performance," Jentz said. Weems now makes $110,000 after he was promoted in January to deputy director and chief of staff with a 19 percent raise. Giving Quinn’s staff big pay hikes while he slashes spending in education and health care services doesn’t sit well with lawmakers and could hamper the governor’s efforts to convince them to support borrowing for state pensions. Sen. Michael Noland, an Elgin Democrat who opposes the borrowing plan despite heavy lobbying, said there might be circumstances where a raise is warranted for someone taking on significant new duties. But he encouraged the governor to follow his own call for shared sacrifice and "hold the line." "The whole economy is in a situation where people, whether in the public or the private sector, are having to accept wage freezes and I certainly believe the government should be conducting itself in a similar manner," Noland said. Jentz, whose salary rose 25 percent, to $75,000, in December because of what she described as "re-evaluated work output and additional duties," said the governor’s office reduced spending by more than 10 percent in the budget year that just ended and plans another 25 percent in reductions this year. She did not provide specifics. She said the budget office cut spending by 17 percent last year, but Quinn proposed a 9 percent increase in budget office spending this year. The overall payroll for the governor’s staff and his budget office was slightly lower in May than last July — $123,000 less, or just under 2 percent. But other records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that dozens of employees reporting to the governor’s office are paid by other agencies under Quinn’s control. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
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