They don’t let just anyone cook at the North Carolina governor’s mansion. Stephen Moravick Jr. was the top chef at the opulent Ritz Carlton hotel in Merritt Island, Florida before he was recruited away to Raleigh to work as food director at the gubernatorial residence of Governor Mike Easley. Moravick, who makes $51,995 a year, doesn’t cook much, but supervises three chefs who do.Then there’s Betty Miller, who NC taxpayers pay $48,000 a year to act as an executive assistant to Mary Easley, Easley’s wife, who teaches law at North Carolina Central University.
This year, in the middle of one of the worst budget crises the state has ever seen, Easley employed a personal staff of 65 assistants and advisors to run his office and his life. How the governor of South Carolina makes due with a mere 32, or the governor of Tennessee with just 37, is unknown. But somehow they manage.
Easley’s staff is costing taxpayers $3.17 million this year in salaries alone, which doesn’t include the cost of health insurance, automobile expenses, office furnishings, printing, computers and cell phone bills. Nor does it include other expenses like helicopter and plane costs or the salaries of the highway patrolmen who chauffeur him and protect him.
Perhaps Easley is single handedly trying to combat North Carolina’s rising unemployment rate, which this spring registered as the third highest in the nation after Washington and Oregon. But then, Easley also clearly understands that state positions need to be cut to balance the budget. In July, he used his emergency budgetary powers to eliminate 2,600 state jobs, half of which were filled, at a savings to the state of $95 million. Before they got their pink slips, 300 of the 1,300 people who were terminated worked in state prisons, and another 200 in state health programs. So, naturally, I was curious to know how many non-essential Easley staffers got the ax as part of the governor’s heroic effort to save us money. Nine, a human resources director told me. The catch: although funded, those positions hadn’t yet been filled.
The Dunn Daily Record recently amassed a list of what Easley’s various flacks and functionaries take home each year, a list that should appall those who perform far more useful services for far less money in the private sector.
Although Easley is paid $119,000 a year for serving as governor, his three highest-ranking aides make more than he does. Franklin Freeman, Easley’s senior assistant for governmental affairs, makes $139,625. John Merritt, his senior assistant for policy and legal matters, is paid $139,000 and Susan Rabon, senior administrative assistant to the governor, gets $119,625.
Then there are the policy advisors, coordinators, and liaisons. Alan Hirsch, policy director, gets $99,625 a year. A Latin liaison named Heriberto Martinez makes $75,625. John Buxton, his senior education advisor makes $77,625, and teacher advisor Ann McArthur makes $60,000. Three other policy analysts take in a combined $126,000. A youth coordinator takes home $32,850.
A legal team of five serves Easley at a cost to taxpayers of $415,380. A communications team of three lets his constituents know what he wants them to know at a cost of $175,864.
Not to be outdone, Easley’s top personal assistants are well paid for their troubles. Beverly Walker, his personal secretary, makes $50,625. Personal assistant Chris Poole makes $52,725; scheduler Janice Bryant makes $66,702 and executive assistant Margaret Johnson, $55,000. In addition to the above, Easley has over 20 aides listed as “administrative assistants” What they do isn’t exactly clear, but some of them work in his three branch offices, one in Washington, DC, one in eastern North Carolina, and one in the western part of the state. Again, the salary figures only reflect the cost of staffing those offices, not the day to day costs of operating them.
But maybe these people are worth the obnoxious salaries we pay them. Maybe they have special powers that will help the governor figure out what to do about the recently released budget deficits the state’s fiscal advisors are projecting, deficits so massive they make the billion-dollar deficit of 2001-2002 look like a sneeze before the flu. You see, the state revenue projections weren’t just way off for last year, this year and next year. The mess stretches out all the way to 2007.
Heck, it’ll probably take a staff twice the size of the one Easley has now to figure out how to deal with the $2.27 billion budget deficit state budget planners are forecasting for 2003-2004. And the $2.5 billion deficit forecast for 2004-2005. And the $2.6 billion deficit in 2005-2006. And the $2.7 billion deficit forecast for 2006-2007. That’ll be quite a job, considering that much of the projected increase comes from debt, health care and education costs the state must pay.
So what the heck? Why deny Easley an entourage fit for a king? Hire away.
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2002.
