12/6/2010: It’s not officially a done deal, but Nigel Jaquiss reports he is on the short list of state agency heads who have been told to prepare their resignations. Kitzhaber writes:
You will note that the list does not include all state agencies or programs. Rather, it represents my immediate priorities for achieving a new compact for agency leaders.
Below is on Steve Duin’s column, from a few weeks back. I hope it helped make this an easy decision. Will Pernsteiner come out of it with a fat golden parachute like the one he wrote for Frohnmayer? Of course, that’s how it works in Oregon.
In the Oregonian, Harry Esteve reports Kitzhaber has appointed Duncan Wyse, president of the Oregon Business Council, and Mary Spilde, president of Lane Community College to lead his transition team for higher ed.
… In February 2009, Gov. Ted Kulongoski told union officials he wanted to freeze wages and eliminate step increases for state workers and force them to take off 24 days without pay to help balance the state budget.
In May 2009, OUS Board Chair Paul Kelly wrote a new contract for Pernsteiner:
In it, Kelly “informed” Pernsteiner not only that his salary was being increased to $280,900, but also that the increase was retroactive to July 1, 2008.
How special. They must have learned how to do this from watching Frohnmayer and Bellotti. Then in May 2010, Kelly wrote Pernsteiner another contract. Excerpt:
The OUS staff got furloughs, but there’s nothing in Pernsteiner’s contract about that, just clause after clause about his free car, insurance, housing allowance, free house in Eugene, expenses, travel for self and spouse, etc. The contract runs until 2012, and I’m willing to bet we’ll be paying him until then, even if Kitzhaber gives him the boot. Paul Kelly seems to love giving away other people’s money. We’re going to need another tuition hike soon. Meanwhile 18 of the 88 people in the Chancellor’s office earn less than $40K. Spreadsheet here.
There’s also some stuff in Duin’s column about the OUS’s utter confusion about how much they were actually paying Pernsteiner. Here’s what they’ve been telling the Chronicle of Higher Ed – apparently it was not the whole truth:
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