MAPE offers list of ‘questionable’ Pawlenty political appointments

The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) released a list this morning of more than 30 of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s political appointees — a list that MAPE believes should be re-examined in light of the state’s massive budget deficit and the governor’s unallotments.

MAPE president Chet Jorgenson and Jim Monroe, the organization’s executive director, said during a news conference that reviewing and “possibly eliminating” the jobs on the list would save the state approximately $2 million.

The list includes former GOP legislators who served with Pawlenty in the House, along with a handful of agency communications directors and others.

“For a group of fiscal conservatives who claim a philosophy of limited government, it is amazing how many of them will gladly accept a government job or appointment paid for by Minnesota taxpayers,” Monroe said.

He specifically mentioned one member of the Metropolitan Council, Annette Meeks, who he said advocated abolishing the council entirely before she was appointed to it, “but now remains silent about any changes to the agency after serving six years on the council and receiving approximately $120,000 in taxpayer funds.”

“Governor, rather than cutting money for necessary medical programs for people with limited funds, why not cut payments to such boards as the Met Council, which is full of people who are already monetarily successful?” Monroe asked.

Here is MAPE’s list of political appointees (PDF).

One Response to “MAPE offers list of ‘questionable’ Pawlenty political appointments”

1. Fern Says:
   January 13th, 2010 at 11:04 am

   I opened the PDF. Apparently there was some trouble lining up the columns, making some of the material difficult to follow, but I did catch that last “note” on one of the appointees, “only has two years of college”. I happen to believe that Minnesotan with two years of college have some right to representation on the Met Council, and while she may be no Bill Gates, who also found a more successful path outside of college, if you are trying to imply something about somebody’s character or fitness for political appointment to the Met Council, you may want to reevaluate your methods, particularly in light of the fact that colleges have become more an extension of high school than institutions of higher learning.