Governor's associates winning top civil service jobs

Colorado governor Bill Owens is giving new meaning to the term temp-to-hire." Since he took office in January 1999, scores of his political associates have received civil service jobs through what some observers consider a backdoor hiring process that circumvents personnel rules.

Specifically, politically connected people are being hired for civil service jobs under the state's six-month temporary rule. Following the temporary appointments, they are awarded the full-time posts during the competitive hiring process.

Jo Romero, president of the FPE/AFT-affiliated Colorado Federation of Public Employees, has a much simpler way to describe Owens' temp-to-hire practice--it is called patronage.

"Patronage is what he believes in," says Romero. " The state constitution locks him out of appointing more than agency heads and commissions, so his only option is to circumvent the personnel rules."

Under Colorado's constitution, agencies have the authority to hire temporary employees for six months to fill vacancies, Romero says, noting that the provision is intended to give agencies time to write position descriptions, advertise jobs and interview candidates. In addition to using the temporary rule, Owens' top administrators are relying on job reclassifications and other loopholes in the law to creatively navigate civil service rules.

The Department of Labor and Employment is known for its navigational success. Department director and governor appointee Vickie Armstrong, a former state legislator, appointed another former state lawmaker, Jeff Wells, deputy executive director. Because the department declared Wells's appointment a lateral transfer," he was not required to fill out a job application. Moreover, by calling his appointment a lateral transfer, the department effectively prevented anyone else from applying for the job.

Critics note, however, that prior to the appointment, Wells had been working part time as a state administrative law judge making $41,130. His lateral" move more than doubled his salary to $82,740, which has since been increased to $108,094 following a job reclassification.

In another instance, the labor department hired a lobbyist from the state's main business trade group as labor standards director. Initially, he was classified as a six-month temporary employee. When the six months were up, he was hired permanently as director of public relations.

The labor department, however, already had a director of public relations," the Denver Post reports. So the department reclassified its existing director of public relations, 10-year veteran Rosemary Marshall," as a substitute employee, a designation used for trainees."

Examples abound of questionable hiring practices, Romero says. At the Department of Natural Resources, a top-rated 17-year employee accepted a buyout, which created a vacancy for Susan Wadhams, wife of the governor's campaign manager, the Denver Post reports, noting that Wadhams was hired as a six-month temporary employee. Like others, she was later hired as the full-time employee over five other competitors for the $75,696-a-year job.

As of September 2000, the Department of Natural Resources had spent $201,000 for employee buyouts. It isn't unusual for newly elected politicians to try to reward political supporters with government jobs in a new administration," the Denver Post reports about the buyouts. What's different about the Owens' administration plan for the Department of Natural Resources, though, is how tax-financed severance contracts were used to clear out civil service employees for management restructuring that saved taxpayers no money."