Wilson Gives Big Pay Raises to Appointees

Gov. Pete Wilson has dramatically increased the amount of money his political appointees have received in raises over the past year, granting pay hikes of more than 50% to some individuals promoted to new jobs, a review of payroll records shows.

Wilson authorized more than $600,000 in appointee raises two years ago, then almost doubled the amount to $1.16 million a year later as the end of his governorship drew nearer, the records show.

Some appointees have recently received multiple increases within the space of a few months. Others have “maxed” out the highest salaries their positions will allow. In the last two years, the raises have gone to about 340 of the more than 600 Wilson political appointees.

Union officials call the flurry of pay activity for Wilson loyalists just the latest example of a double standard because state Civil Service workers’ promotional raises are with few exceptions limited to 5% and few of them are receiving such increases.

The biggest raises among hundreds of Wilson appointee salaries went to those making between $50,000 and just under $100,000 a year.

Administration officials contend that the raises are necessary as employees are promoted to jobs with more responsibility, filling vacancies created by an exodus of appointees in the closing months of Wilson’s two terms in office.

Appointees’ jobs end when Wilson steps down in January.

After granting state workers an across-the-board 3% increase in early 1995, Wilson has since refused further raises for most state employees. At first, he cited a recession-depleted state budget, at one point instituting a pay cut for everyone, appointees included. Later he demanded a revamping of pay policies in union contracts that labor leaders have rejected as union-busting and leading to a spoils system.

Workers among the 157,000 Civil Service corps can still qualify for pay increases in the early years of employment or by getting promoted to different jobs. But the amounts seldom exceed 5%, and promotions go only to a small fraction of the full general work force, personnel officials said.

At least three Wilson appointees received raises of more than 50%, the highest going to Angelica Howell, a former clerical worker who rose to a professional level in the governor’s Office of Planning and Research. She received a 57.9% increase in the past year, taking her annual salary to $37,884.

Union representatives also complain that straight merit increases--handed out to scores of Wilson appointees in amounts up to 8%--are unavailable within the Civil Service ranks.

Democrats, Unions Criticize Raises

Democrats and union leaders discount the administration’s explanation for the sharply higher increases in appointee pay. They say Wilson is going out of his way to take care of his favorites, giving them bonuses as a thank-you as he goes out the door.

Coming on top of Wilson’s refusal to grant all state employees a cost-of-living increase, Wilson’s pay hikes for appointees are a “wretched excess,” said Drew Mendelson, a spokesman for the California State Employees Assn., a union umbrella group.

Sean Walsh, Wilson’s spokesman, defended the raises for appointees who soon will be without jobs.

“When he’s gone, we’re gone,” Walsh said.

Julia Justus, Wilson’s chief of appointments, said every raise is justified, based solely on performance--which has become Wilson’s mantra for how all state employees should be paid.

His demand to link compensation to “pay for performance” lies at the heart of the administration’s disagreement with all but a few of the 21 collective bargaining units representing Civil Service employees, Mendelson said.

“We believe the right way to compensate people for increases in the cost of living is with fair and across-the-board raises,” he said.

Among appointees who received raises in 1996-97 were four administration officials who make more than $100,000 annually, including George Dunn, whose pay jumped 15% to $115,068 when he was promoted to Wilson’s chief of staff last year.

At a lower level, Lisa Kalustian, a former press aide in the governor’s office, jumped to the policymaking position of deputy cabinet secretary in the Health and Welfare Agency, a department she had served in earlier.

Along with the job came a $22,604 increase in salary to $88,860 a year, payroll records show.

Walsh, Kalustian’s former boss in the governor’s press office, said Kalustian represents a typical case of someone moving up during the revolving-door period among gubernatorial staffers as the administration nears the end of its time in office.

With her departure from the press office, Walsh filled the vacancy with staffer Ron Low, whose promotion earned him a pay raise of $23,604. The increase placed him at the top of a list of more than 200 appointees who got pay increases within the last year.

Walsh said Low became his No. 2 aide, able to represent Walsh as the governor’s spokesman when Walsh was not available.

As for Walsh, he and his wife, Kimberly, who is the governor’s communications director, together gross $193,020 a year, records show.

Kimberly Walsh’s job involves long-range planning for getting out Wilson’s message and overseeing other information officers, she said.

A former press aide to Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife, Marilyn Quayle, Kimberly Walsh’s salary today is $93,216.

Sean Walsh, in addition to his position as press secretary, is one of four deputy chiefs of staff to Wilson.

His present salary, after a series of raises in recent years, is $99,804, the ceiling allowed for appointees at his level.

If that seems unfair to general state workers, he said, “remember, they’ll be here. They’ll outlast us,” while the Walshes are looking for work.

Walsh concedes that he has had offers from private industry, but none that he is actively pursuing.

By contrast, union officials cite other civil servants who, though talented and productive, remain stuck at their present salary levels while the cost of living has gone up 6% since their last raise in early 1995.

Art Salazar falls within such a group.

Salazar, 40, is a state transportation engineer who led the team that did the hands-on design work for building the interchange linking the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa freeways in the 1980s, a project than won awards for design and construction. Colleagues said he is credited with helping to usher in Caltrans computer-aided design concepts.

Salazar, also an official in the Professional Engineers in California Government union, said his 3% raise in January 1995 took his annual salary to $51,372, where it remains today.

With “a wife, two kids, two dogs and a mortgage,” Salazar said his “pay has gone down as the cost of living went up.”