Gov. Rod Blagojevich routinely has lectured other state officeholders about the need to keep a lid on personnel costs, but that hasn’t stopped him from being generous when it comes to handing out raises to a select subset of those who work directly for him.
About two-thirds of the nearly 100 staffers on the governor’s payroll haven’t gotten a pay bump since he took office two years ago, but the average hike for those who did is 17 percent. As a comparison, the administration just signed a contract with its largest labor union in which the state’s 37,000 frontline employees will get a 10.5 percent raise spread over four years.
In the governor’s office, the group that has had to make do without more money includes many at both the extreme high end as well as some at the low end of his payroll, including the workers who clean and maintain the Executive Mansion he rarely uses.
Mansion housekeeper Tammy Bradford, for instance, earned $2,321 per month when Blagojevich took office, and she still makes that today. But one adviser on environmental and other issues has seen her salary increased twice and is making 40 percent more than when she started.
Members of the governor’s public relations staff also have been awarded healthy pay hikes.
Overall, the governor has a smaller staff and a smaller personal office budget than his predecessor. Blagojevich’s office budget is $5.2 million, down from the $6.8 million Republican George Ryan spent on his immediate employees during his last year in office.
Blagojevich has long touted the need for frugality since he took office, often saying that the state has never faced a more dire fiscal situation and that belt-tightening is needed all over state government. Still, 13 members of the governor’s staff–including two of his top press aides–were handed pay raises this year, just weeks after the state laid off 87 employees because of budget constraints.
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Officials with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees–which had strongly backed Blagojevich but has become more critical in recent months–said the state is still reeling from “historic understaffing” of employees with the Departments of Human Services, Corrections and Children and Family Services, among others.
Anders Lindall, a spokesman for the government employees union, said 17 percent pay hikes for employees of the governor might strike average state workers the wrong way.
“When frontline workers are making these sacrifices, working mandatory overtime and forsaking pay increases, we believe management should be sharing in those sacrifices as well,” Lindall said. “To the extent that [the pay raises] appear to be out of step with the sacrifices that many employees are making, it’s not good for public perception or morale among frontline employees.”
Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said it’s wrong to compare the two types of increases.
She said all of those in the governor’s office who got a pay raise, herself included, did so because they were promoted and asked to take on more responsibilities or because they were hired at a starting salary much less than what it should have been. Blagojevich’s staff is budgeted for 99 employees, compared with 130 for Ryan, she said.
“We’re doing more with less. … These are not pay increases that you automatically get after a certain amount of time. These are the direct result of promotion or someone coming off a probationary period,” Jackson said. “There’s a good number of people in low-level positions who were promoted to jobs with more responsibility.”
This isn’t the first time Blagojevich has been criticized for giving raises to his employees even as he prevented hikes for other state workers and forced other statewide officeholders to hack their budgets. In 2003, the governor’s office gave a half-dozen of its staffers bumps in pay, arguing that the hikes were justified because the workers had passed a probationary period. Two workers who received the post-probationary pay hike have since gotten another raise.
Jill Hayden, who was hired as the governor’s director of boards and commissions, for instance, saw her annual salary increased to $69,996 from $50,004 since joining the administration. Richard Hanson, the deputy director of scheduling and advance, saw his yearly salary increased by 29 percent to $45,000 from $35,004.
Hanson and Hayden cleared probationary periods in 2003, and Hayden also has taken on new responsibilities, Jackson said. In addition to handling boards and commissions, she is now also the director of environmental affairs.
A keen politician who is aware of his image, Blagojevich has increased the salaries for several members of his media team since 2003.
Jackson herself has seen a 4.5 percent pay hike along with the expansion of her duties. She is now a deputy chief of staff, a post that pays $114,996 annually.
Jackson’s top deputy, Abby Ottenhoff, who has also taken on more responsibility in the communications office, has seen her salary jump to $80,004 a year, a 23 percent increase from the $65,000 at which she started. And Becky Carroll, who initially started as the press spokeswoman in the governor’s budget office, got a 15 percent raise in January to $91,992 annually because she is now working in both the budget office and the governor’s main communications office.
“People getting double-digit raises at a time when state government is under such financial problems [makes me think] that those workers must be doing one hell of a job or are really lucky,” said Charles Wheeler III, a state government expert at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “I think an average state worker not getting double-digit increases … would find it hard to understand.”
But not everybody at the top levels of the administration has received a raise. Both Blagojevich’s deputy governor, Bradley Tusk, and his chief of staff and friend, Lon Monk, still are paid $129,996 annually, the same amount they received when they joined the administration two years ago.
Several administrative assistants, an office manager and a receptionist at the bottom of the pay scale have seen pay raises. But several of Blagojevich’s other lowest-paid employees, including many who work at the governor’s mansion in Springfield, have not.
Joe Starling, a butler since 1995, has earned $32,832 annually since Blagojevich’s inauguration.
Many of those workers in the Executive Mansion declined to be interviewed.
The mansion’s horticulturist since 1984, Thomas Martin, also hasn’t seen a raise under Blagojevich, although his $54,252 salary is higher than that of many mansion workers.
After surviving four administrations, Martin said he doesn’t feel jilted by not receiving a pay raise.
“It’s not a political thing, it’s just a realistic thing,” Martin, 51, said. “I don’t think it’s different than anything else. I’ve gone through it before.”
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Pay raises in governor’s office a mixed bag
While many of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s staff have received raises during his tenure, other employees who have been with the governor since he was elected have not.
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EMPLOYEES WHO RECEIVED BIGGEST PERCENTAGE RAISES
Ranked by percentage increase in monthly pay after raises
NAME AND POSITION, START DATE, RAISE(S) START PAY CURRENT PAY INCREASE
1. Jill Hayden
director, Jan. 2003 2 $4,167 $5,833 40%
2. Patrick Kennedy
office manager, Jan. 2003 1 $2,500 $3,333 33%
3. Corinne Jung
advance coordinator, Jan. 2003 1 $2,500 $3,333 33%
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4. Kristin Richards
senior policy adviser, Aug. 2003 1 $2,917 $3,750 29%
5. Richard Hanson
deputy director, Jan. 2003 2 $2,917 $3,750 29%
EMPLOYEES WHO DID NOT RECEIVE RAISES
Select employees; all had start dates of Jan. 2003
NAME AND POSITION MONTHLY PAY
Tammy Bradford, housekeeper $2,321
Lon Monk, chief of staff $10,833
Nina Rossini, chef $3,726
Emma Lewis, laundress $2,265
Thomas Martin, horticulturist $4,521
Source: Illinois comptroller’s office
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