SACRAMENTO : Many Are Calling, but Few Will Be Chosen, by Governor for State Jobs

Gov. Pete Wilson may be the state’s chief executive, but he and his management team have limited sway over who is on the state’s $7.5-billion payroll.

Of 162,467 state jobs, Wilson gets to fill 956 full-time positions, which is less than 1% of the total state work force.

The state Constitution requires that all state workers be Civil Service employees, except the limited number of positions appointed by the governor, the state Legislature, the lieutenant governor and 12 other state officials. The workers who are appointed by the governor are referred to as “exempt” employees and serve in the highest levels of state government.

Employees in the Civil Service system “basically have tenure” after they have been employed by the state for at least six months, according to David Tirapelle, director of the Department of Personnel Administration. “The system was designed to discourage the spoils system, where state government is packed with the governor’s political appointees,” he said.

Tirapelle said the system is not that much different from a corporate setting when a new chief executive comes on board: “A whole work force is in place, and the only real changes are in the upper echelons of management.

“It’s a (misconception) that you can’t discipline and get rid of people in the Civil Service system, but it’s true that you can’t come in and make wholesale changes, and you must follow the rules for dismissal very carefully.”

With the state unemployment rate at 7.4% and the Legislature in the midst of massive layoffs, the governor’s office has been swamped with inquiries about job openings. More than 11,000 people requested employment applications, and the governor’s office received more than 3,100 completed applications.

The governor has already hired 200 exempt employees who work out of his office in the state Capitol. He has also appointed 13 of the 63 agency directors who each have responsibility for massive government departments.

For example, the new director of the Department of Corrections, James H. Gomez, oversees a $2.8-billion budget that handles nearly 100,000 prisoners and 86,000 parolees. With 31,000 employees, the Corrections Department runs 20 prisons and 110 camps, reception centers and community correctional facilities.

More than 1,800 of the governor’s appointments are to special government boards and commissions.

There are full-time appointments to high-profile agencies such as the state Public Utilities Commission and the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. But the vast majority of the positions are part-time posts on lesser-known boards and commissions such as the Camarillo State Hospital Advisory Board, the Scientific Advisory Commission on Acid Deposition and the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers.

To land one of the top jobs in the new Administration, applicants must fill out a detailed and intimidating four-page application. Along with information about employment history and educational background, the application includes 16 questions that pry into the political and personal background of the job applicant.

For example: “Have you ever written any particularly controversial books or articles? If yes, please explain.”

Or, “Have you ever submitted oral or written views to any government authority or the news media on any particular controversial issue other than in an official government capacity?”

Another question asks whether the applicant has “ever been publicly identified, in person or by organizational membership, with a particularly controversial national, state or local issue?”

The Administration is also trying to seek smooth sailing with its appointments. For example, the application asks, “Do you know anyone who might take any steps, overtly or covertly, to attack your appointment?”

How important is party registration to getting a job in a Republican Administration? The application includes a question about party registration and a question about the state Senate and Assembly district where the applicant lives.

One senator, who is close to the recruiting process, said that when two equally qualified applicants--one a Democrat and one a Republican--apply for a job, “the decision about who to hire becomes much easier.”

Plan to Help Laid-Off Workers Find Jobs

The state Employment Development Department has launched a special program to help hundreds of legislative workers who are losing their jobs because of budget cutbacks that were mandated by Proposition 140.

Approved by the voters last November, the ballot measure slashed funds to the Legislature and will create an employment casualty list of 800 to 1,000 legislative workers.

EDD has set up Assembly and Senate Re-Employment Centers that offer laid-off workers employment counseling and access to job listings and a data bank on upcoming tests for other jobs in state government.

The state employment agency is also trying to place government workers in private sector jobs.

“This mass exodus of legislative employees means that California businesses have a large pool of skilled white-collar workers to choose from,” according to Capitol Weekly, a Sacramento publication that lists government job openings and tracks employment changes in state agencies.

Many of the workers are former legislative consultants who have strong research and analytic skills and who are familiar with a wide range of issues, such as banking, taxes, real estate, insurance, health services, consumer affairs and labor subjects.

Employers who are interested in hiring former legislative workers can contact EDD at (916) 324-7714.