Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Beshear: Continuing To Take Care Of His Own
« More Polling Data on Congressional Races | Main | Politics Of Gasoline Part 1 »At some point you would think the Beshear administration would be too shamed to continue appointing obvious political cronies to positions with high salaries. That point hasn't been reached yet. The latest crony is Stephanie Bell. She is going to be a policy adviser at the PSC making $72,000 a year.
Gov. Steve Beshear has made room on the state payroll for a veteran Kentucky Democratic Party fund-raiser and Frankfort lobbyist.
One of Beshear's newest appointments is Stephanie C. Bell, 42, a policy adviser at the Public Service Commission. She started June 1 and gets $72,000 a year, according to state records.
Even the Herald Leader understands how smarmy this move is. They all but say that the position is a completely made up job as reward for a Democratic fundraiser.
There was nobody in that post immediately before Beshear named her to it, he said, but other PSC officials have carried out similar duties in the past....
Beshear spokesman Dick Brown said he is traveling with the governor and could not immediately respond to questions about Bell's appointment or possible conflicts given her party fund-raising and her lobbying background.
The good news is the state must not be hurting financially any more. Why else would Beshear appoint a crony to a made up position if the financial outlook of the state wasn't glowing? I guess the public defenders are going to be happy to hear about the new financial picture.
