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June 3, 2011 in City
Condon’s criticism of public salaries could backfire
David Condon waves to cars headed into the downtown Doubletree Hotel, where he later addressed attendees at his kick-off breakfast May 24 for his campaign for Spokane mayor.
(Full-size photo)
Spokane mayoral hopeful David Condon has made government salaries an early issue of his campaign, targeting specifically city employees earning more than $100,000 a year.
But until taking a leave of absence to run for mayor, Condon himself earned nearly $127,000 annually as a Spokane-based federal employee serving as district director for Republican U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Additionally, he has yet to decide whether he would follow incumbent Mary Verner’s lead in capping the mayor’s annual salary to about $100,000 or take the more than $170,000 a year allocated for the job.
“The employees and the cost of staff is spiraling out of control,” Condon told supporters last week at a campaign kickoff breakfast. “Literally, last week I got an email confirming that they’re expecting somewhere between $5 million and $8 million in pay increases next year. I don’t know about you, but it’s time that – many of you probably aren’t planning on a raise next year – that we look at this and make sure that we’re getting our money’s worth.”
Condon’s decision to point out city workers who earn $100,000 carries a potential political risk because it could remind voters of Verner’s pay cut, which she’s taken ever since winning the office in 2007. He has said he won’t decide until after the election whether he’d do the same if he wins.
“It’s something that I’ll discuss with my family and decide at that time when I get there,” said Condon, who announced his candidacy early last month. “The budget will be agreed upon for that first year by the time I take office, so you have to work within the parameters that you’re given.”
The City Charter entitles the mayor to a salary equal to the highest-paid employee other than the city administrator. By the end of her term, Verner will have turned down nearly $250,000.
“I have to set an example from the top to cut back so that other people can keep their jobs and deliver services,” Verner said.
Condon’s criticism of six-figure City Hall salaries came during a pitch to potential campaign donors, including many Spokane-area business owners.
“Do you know we have over a hundred positions that make over $100,000,” Condon told the crowd. “Could you imagine what we could do with that money to put us back onto the national stage again?”
Condon actually low-balled the number of workers earning that figure. City Budget Director Tim Dunivant said that this year 190 city employees will earn more than $100,000. That’s about 10 percent of the municipal work force.
Verner argues that the number of city workers earning over $100,000 is comparable to similar organizations with nearly 2,000 workers. She also points to concessions made by unions during her term and a salary freeze she ordered for unrepresented workers.
“The salary schedules were already set when I took office,” she said. “I have worked to change the trend.”
In an interview this week, Condon clarified his stance. He said he isn’t necessarily saying he would cut back on the number of people who earn $100,000, nor lower their pay.
“With good leadership, there’s a lot of smart people that are well compensated that, put in the right direction, could do some pretty amazing things for the city,” Condon said. “I have been a government employee. You need to pay for talent.”
Verner said employees already are producing results with a smaller staff and many are working longer hours.
“These are the very jobs that are bringing every efficiency possible out of our budget so we can continue to deliver services,” Verner said.
During his speech last week, Condon also questioned potential raises for city workers next year.
City administrators have estimated the increase in next year’s budget from pay raises at slightly more than $5 million out of a total budget of around $625 million, but they caution that further concessions are possible and that some contracts are not settled yet for 2012.
As a congressional staff member, Condon saw his pay rise more than 30 percent since 2007, when Verner took office and when the national economy began to fall. Last year, Condon earned nearly $127,000, according to legistorm.com, which tracks the pay of congressional staffs.
Condon said most of that raise results from him agreeing to take on extra duties in McMorris Rodgers’ office, including payroll, while adding the title deputy chief of staff to his existing job of district director.
In his speech, Condon also pointed to the mayor’s budget, which has increased nearly 30 percent since 2007.
“We’re not managing our budget very well,” he said.
Much of that increase can be attributed to Verner’s “employee-led innovation” program, which is designed to find ways to cut costs and increase efficiency at City Hall and will cost about $250,000 this year.
She says the program “is producing far more in cost savings” than it costs and noted that the portion of her budget isolated to her and her personal staff has fallen about 10 percent since she took office.
MAC faces angry crowd 
opiemuyo on June 03 at 8:01 a.m.
Well, second article in two days, the Cowles family as spoken, and the minions have obeyed, and presto two bad articles in a row. Been this way in Spokane for so many years now….
mdoodle on June 03 at 8:13 a.m.
Blah blah blah… Typical political hypocritical verbal vomit. Make ambiguous statements like …”that we look at this and make sure that we’re getting our money’s worth.” Well duh. That would definitely fit the job description of mayor. How about saying HOW you’re going to make a difference, what you’re going to do differently, etc. Oh, and it’s pretty easy to read between the lines with regard to his decision (or lack thereof) about what he will do with the mayoral salary question…
fishinjay on June 03 at 8:45 a.m.
So he complained about the number of people that earn more than $100k, then said he wouldn’t change it? Consistency in his message isn’t one of his strong points. Just let him keep talking and he’ll undermine himself.
Providing_Buttonholes on June 03 at 8:46 a.m.
Dave Condon “Do as I say, not as I do”.
“Some animals are more equal than others” Animal Farm George Orwell.
Sounds like Condon has been porking out at the public trough and now just wants a better seat at the table.
While Condom has a valid point, he didnt do his home work and this was low lying fruit while attempting to stir up hysteria on an issue that should be worked on in public.
The City of Spokane IS RIFE with overpaid incompetent personnel and pointing that fact out is rather ingenous when Condom never provided a plan to fix it.
We dont need politicians grandizing by pointing out problems, we need politicians to FIX them and avoid them, which sadly is one of Verners minor weak points and one of Condoms major weak point. Condom was part of McMorris’s corruption machine and his job was to crank the wheel on that.
D Statler on June 03 at 9:04 a.m.
This guy sounds like just another politician talking out both sides of his face. LOL We may be better off with the current quacks. Atleast she lays it out on the table for everyone to see.( When her head comes out of the sand pile that is)The last thing we need is more in fighting down town. Condon is setting the stage for trouble before the election even starts.Just another GREAT GUY :^(
ManleyPointer on June 03 at 9:14 a.m.
One hundred and ninety employees making over $100,000.00?? Wow. Must be nice.
Scoutster on June 03 at 9:39 a.m.
So, approximately 1% of over 2,000 workers are paid more than $100K. Not sure that is out of line…in fact, I would bet there is not a single business in the area that doesn’t have a similar proportion.
People want government to run like a business, but they want the govt workers to all be paid like Conoco clerks. Why don’t you get what you pay for in govt just like in business?
Condon is sure HE was worth that $127K to work to keep Cathy away from constituents, but others with real life issues and problems aren’t.
This guy is a 1st class hypocrite.
Of course, following the Turnip Rule (anyone with an R after their name, even a turnip, gets elected around here) he will probably win despite it being a non-partisan office.
soccermomsusie on June 03 at 9:48 a.m.
CONSERVATIVES UNITE!!!
OK. You know what they are going to say:
1. Condon has done nothing in his life but work for the government.
2. Condon is only running for mayor so he can trade his $130,000 government job in for a $170,000 government job.
3. If you Conservatives were really consistent in your beliefs, you would back Mary Verner for mayor, as she only takes $100,000 of the $170,000 budgeted for her position and puts the remainder back into the budget.
I say - DON’T LISTEN!!! This is a trick from Satan. Sure, using Man’s logic, one would come to some pretty bad conclusions about Mr. Condon but Spokane is a battleground for God’s Will!! And parts of the plan are on a need-to-know basis. Logic will not work here.
REPUBLICANS - THIS IS THE TIME TO GET IN STEP! DO NOT BE A RINO!!!
Mr. Condon is the only Tea Party friendly candidate running for mayor and he has proven his stripes by his awesome work for Cathy McMorris Rodgers. Cathy is one of the few who continues to do George W. Bush’s (the best) will. She has not wavered.
Case in point, Cathy signed up early to get rid of Socialistic Medicare. This is great, as I make the cut-off so my Medicare will not be taken away. Tell me this isn’t part of God’s plan. And who was with her on this all the way? David Condon!! That’s who! Just imagine what he can do for city hall!
We need a man like Condon to prove, on the local level, that government does not work.
CONDON CON DO!!! PART OF THE PLAN!!! SPOKANE ARE YOU READY?
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!!!
ManleyPointer on June 03 at 9:48 a.m.
Scoutster, you ask the question of the day: ” Why don’t you get what you pay for in govt just like in business?” That IS the question, and my point is that we SHOULD get what we pay for, and I’m not at all convinced that we do. My knock on government jobs is that too often there is no direct relationship between pay and performance, or pay and value. That is a much clearer equation in business than it is in government.
johnclarke on June 03 at 10:01 a.m.
Manly, these jobs are the golden ticket. You can work your 20, retire then take another job in the same system. There is such a huge divide between these types of jobs - my favorite being the fire department - and the median income in Spokane. The trick is to go out and commission a study comparing Spokane to another city. Then “oh look we don’t make enough.” Seriously man, these jobs are awesome.
I could go on for days, but don’t just add that salary. Add the fabulous medical, the retirement blah blah. I’m sorry, but we don’t need 14 fire captains at 140k a year for 70 structure fires. Dual EMS service ? Um, yeah.
ManleyPointer on June 03 at 10:16 a.m.
JC, my point is not that these jobs shouldn’t exist at their current levels of pay and benefits, but rather that I should have one of them. I want to be the head of the Water Department.
johnclarke on June 03 at 10:23 a.m.
We are in agreement. I’m jealous, it’s that simple. In a town where the median FAMILY income is below 50k, these jobs are like the shizzle dizz. I wanna work two days a week and never get fired.
Scoutster on June 03 at 10:48 a.m.
No doubt lots of “public safety” jobs are inflated, and, yes, the benefits are much richer than in the private sector.
But, to just paint with a broad brush: “These people make too much” is ignorant and simply adds to the silliness and blunt force trauma that happens when voters try to micromanage.
A more effective approach would be to come up with a solution (did anyone hear THAT in his comments?) like setting up a citizens review board with real teeth on salaries that will be public and transparent and look at every position and compare them with comparable jobs in other communities AND local values. (Of course, the public safety unions are immune from such scrutiny cuz they are rich enuf to buy legislators instead of mere city councilors).
gonzomo on June 03 at 10:49 a.m.
Interesting to see the Spokesman take on Condon this early. But let us remember what happened in 2007 (when govt salaries began to take off). Nancy Pelosi took over the house and went on a spending spree. Congressional salaries were one of many things to take off. And Cathy voted against all those increases.
Dave happens to be a very smart guy who has some good ideas for this city. I hope the paper gives him a fair shake.
DickAdams on June 03 at 10:51 a.m.
I want to be the Historic Preservation guru. Make a few telephone calls a day advising the fat cats how to receive a real estate tax exemptions for 10 years and then hit the golf course.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on June 03 at 10:52 a.m.
Scoutster at 9:39am – typo? It’s 10%, not 1%.
“Condon actually low-balled the number of workers earning that figure. City Budget Director Tim Dunivant said that this year 190 city employees will earn more than $100,000. That’s about 10 percent of the municipal work force.”
ManleyPointer on June 03 at 11:01 a.m.
Dick, you are not working efficiently as Historical Preservation Guy if you are having telephone conversations with fat cats, THEN playing golf. Have the conversations in the tee box, waiting for the foursome of fire chiefs ahead of you to get out of the way (said fire chiefs waiting, in their turn, for the foursome of assistant school principals to putt out).
Telephone calls, indeed. Harrumph.
liberal_in_right_wing_land on June 03 at 11:13 a.m.
Since this guy worked for Cathy does he also have no ideas of his own? Will he also not put forth any legislation that helps the people elected him and only helps the rich here in Spokane? Will he also just do whatever his party leaders tell him to do? Will he always stand behind his party leaders when they are speaking and just smile and look pretty? Will he never be in Spokane actually listening to and trying to help his fellow constituents?
soccermomsusie on June 03 at 11:44 a.m.
Libertard in God’s Country. I hope that is how it flows. In short:
God
George W. Bush
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
David Condon
Spokane
Stand by to receive some blessings!!!
HEAR OUR VOICE!!!
Providing_Buttonholes on June 03 at 11:46 a.m.
DavId Condon just wants to sit in Jim West’s “seat.”
Scoutster on June 03 at 11:47 a.m.
Sorry…yes, I meant 10%. Anyone here old enough to remember “New Math”!
Dazzeetrader11 on June 03 at 11:59 a.m.
Sorry but this attacking of Condon is misplaced and is a distraction. What Spokane should be focused on is how the heck did Verner let those $100K salaries get so out of control. SHE and her performance is the issue..not Condon.
$19 miilion out the door, $16 miilion in non necessary purchases on real estate, cops out of control, unions running rampant….and there’s a lot more. The problem isn’t Condon. He didn’t do any of this nor did he put it in place. The issue ( no matter what the author wants you to think) is VERNER. Tax loss? Bikes and trees? Loss of traffic lanes? Loss of the rate stabilzation fund? No river clean up funds ? WHere’d all the money go!!!
Raising water and sewer fees? Control water usage with fines even though the aquifer has never been so full. No..Spokane has a problem and it isn’t the guy who doesn’t have the job yet!!
Grow up Spokane!
MrNatural on June 03 at 12:02 p.m.
Great…just great…another Pillsbury Don’t Boy…bake him and he comes out light and fluffy…
I’ll know how to vote when I see which way the police guild sways…make a great reverse barometer
Dazzeetrader11 on June 03 at 12:19 p.m.
How can anyone go after someone who didn’t creat this mess and doesn’t have the job yet? The overwhelming Issue is VERNER and unions..NOT Condon!
Jonathan is leading you astray. He loves liberal dems and especially this crazy tax and spend mayor VERNER. COndon has done nothing. It’s Spokane’s mayor who doesn’t manage your taxpayer money very well and then creates millions in debt.
zelda on June 03 at 12:46 p.m.
The govt. salary issue is just a hobby horse that all the conservatives are riding this campaign cycle. Candidates don’t even have to bother with formulating an intelligent position on the matter. Just blurt out, “Overpaid government workers!” at every whistle stop and it’s a guaranteed applause line.
The problem is that with the exception of Providence and Northern Quest Casino, the other eight in the top-10 list of largest Spokane County employers are government entities.
But that probably doesn’t matter because knee-jerk voters just reason, “It’s not me who’s overpaid; it’s the other guy.” (For further reference, see “Down with government-paid healthcare and keep your hands off my Medicare.”)
ManleyPointer on June 03 at 1:17 p.m.
You insult me, zelda. I am not a knee-jerk voter, and I do not fall for “applause lines”. And what in the world does it have to do with anything that eight of the top ten employers in Spokane are “government entities”? Does that make it OK to overpay employees of those entities?
Explain yourself, please.
Seattle_Liberal on June 03 at 1:36 p.m.
Another Republican hypocrite!
greenlibertarian on June 03 at 1:42 p.m.
Condon’s obviously got an enormous mouth, he can fit both feet in it.
“Do you know we have over a hundred positions that make over $100,000,” Condon told the crowd. “Could you imagine what we could do with that money to put us back onto the national stage again?”
National stage? What the hell does that mean? What’s the “national stage” have to do with leading and running the city in a logical, efficient manner? Sounds like he’s got ambitions for much higher office and wants the taxpayers of Spokane to pay for his ambition.
Pander much?
zelda on June 03 at 1:54 p.m.
Well, I think it’s pretty straightforward. The supposition is that government is *the* problem and by dint of the fact that the person works for the govt., then that employee is a problem and the job should be eliminated. That’s the prevailing knee-jerk thinking. Apologies if I included you in the simplistic viewpoint.
Digging deeper, one could say that some govt. employees make too much money and I would say there’s merit to that argument. Govt. employees tend to make their pay arguments purely on the basis of salary and not total compensation (benefits).
In private industry, the tendency is to lay-off workers with a long length of service because the succession of wage increase (and rising medical premiums) over the years makes them expensive compared to younger workers. Is it fair? Not really, but if you’ve got expenses that exceed your revenue, well…
A lot of government jobs fall into the “nice to have but not essential” category. Jobs tend to be added when times are good. Times are no longer good.
State, county and municipal revenues have fallen dramatically and won’t be coming back to 2006 levels any time soon. We can’t afford many of these jobs anymore.
Since Spokane habitually gets one-term mayors, Spokanites should elect somebody who accepts that fact and cleans house once and for all with no aspirations for further terms. Get it done and let the chips fall where they may.
It’s easier to do in a city than a state, since governors tend to want to be governors again or at least get a cabinet appointment.
But the big problem (should have stated this earlier) is that a huge percentage of the workforce in Spokane County works for the government in one way, shape or form. It’s really not going to “save” $$$ so much as align expenses with revenues. There will be economic impact to the area but people are going to have to get used to a lower standard of living because of the 2008 crash and aftermath. But if there is one thing modern Americans loathe it’s accepting less of anything.
selkirks on June 03 at 3:35 p.m.
@Dazzee:
I like the bike lanes. I think a lot of bike commuters would agree with me. After all, they increase public safety, which is the function of local government. And they don’t add to the cost of a construction project.
“But no, bikes are a liberal plot to make us all be active and exercise. So no, no bike lanes for us.”
westerly on June 03 at 4:21 p.m.
Spokane is trapped in a hole with the unions, demanding increased benefits every year..its only 3 per raises!! Ya, but that is $3000 to $4500 a year for the 180 who make $100k-$200k a year..and this is only salary..add bennies, tens of thousands more. No way out of it, binding arbitration guarantees raises every year for life..can’t get around it. Binding arbitration was created by Olympia for gov employees so they get their demands, regardless of how poor a city is! And when you compare Spokane wages to west coast, Spokane is 20-30 percent lower..so there is bargaining room..lots of it. Raise taxes more and get them property taxes up 50% and then city will have money off the poor working stiffs in Spokane. Spokane is poor mostly, working stiffs and they are saddled with the city employee]’s golden packages.This is a trend all across the USA, city infrastructure is crumbling because most all money collected, 75% goes to employees..nothing left for roads etc. They have to pass $100million bonds to get roads repaired and….no money to keep roads maintained, chip sealing cracks..etc. Only way out is a city filing bankruptcy..then the fiscal matters start getting looked at seriously.
greenlibertarian on June 03 at 4:39 p.m.
A lot of government jobs fall into the “nice to have but not essential” category. Jobs tend to be added when times are good. Times are no longer good.
State, county and municipal revenues have fallen dramatically and won’t be coming back to 2006 levels any time soon. We can’t afford many of these jobs anymore.
-Zelda
I don’t know what the figures are for Spokane County, but over-all, local government jobs have been declining for a long time.
Employment in local government continued to decline over the month (-28,000). Local government has lost 446,000 jobs since an employment peak in September 2008.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
In fact, if you look at just the private, non-farm sector, the most recent jobs report would show a net gain of 83,000 jobs, not great by any means, but far better than the oft-quoted figure of 55,000 jobs created in May.
Scoutster on June 03 at 5:27 p.m.
Daisy writes:
How can anyone go after someone who didn’t creat this mess and doesn’t have the job yet?
Thanks, Daisy …that is a good one!
Blondscence on June 03 at 5:34 p.m.
1. Selkirk…maybe you and 30 friends love the bike paths. About 400,000 don’t. They like to drive.
2. How is COndon a hypocrit when he’s gettin gpaid off the federal budget allocated to the federal House member? What he’s saying is that a city employee…well 190 of them anyway are costing lots of money…like $19 million.
His goal might be to trim that so SPokane can survie another 100 years.
3. Verner hasn’t cut the employee budget. It’s gone through the roof. See her carefully chosen words. It’s a lie. Her and her staff…lol…dodging much Mary? How about the truth ? Shell game in play again? Did your game ever stop? Admit it…Spokane’s in huge financial troubloe due to over spending. And you and your “staff” spent the money.
greenlibertarian on June 03 at 7:17 p.m.
Don’t feed the troll, now masquerading under another moniker.
selkirks on June 03 at 7:29 p.m.
@Blondscence:
1. Thanks for the personal attack. I appreciate it. Especially considering your facts are flatly false. The number of bike commuters in Spokane has skyrocketed in the last few years. Obviously there’s been no formal study done, but anecdotal evidence supports this.
2. How many of your 400,000 drivers would bike if there were a safe option available to them?
3. So 400,000 people “want” to drive. Who cares? We should be providing for the safety of every user—not just those with four wheels. Isn’t that the purpose of infrastructure?
zelda on June 03 at 8:40 p.m.
@greenlibertarian — You said that government jobs have been declining for some time, but I wonder if some of this decline is due to outsourcing. So the jobs as done by private contractors but the work is still government funded. There are savings to taxpayers because of reduced future pension liabilities but some of this private-contractor rigamarole is a shell game. The employees make less money than when they worked for the government but the owner of the contracting company does very well.
D Statler on June 03 at 9:15 p.m.
I wonder if Mr Condon inhaled ? I wonder what his opinion is on Spokane’s drug task force passing out crack and meth to informants? His position on the new jail? How he intends to cure the corruption of our legal justice system? Will he step in on behalf of the ratepayers being repeatedly raped by AVISTA? His plans to restore faith in our local economy? His plans to attract more family supporting wage jobs to our city?
There is so many more important issues that effect our everyday lifes. I hope Mr. Condon steps up and truely addresses the really important issues to Spokanites. The wage issue is small potatoes compared to the amount of pain inflicted by AVISTA’s corporate greed to our local economy.
Providing_Buttonholes on June 04 at 6:11 a.m.
The Cowles appear to be subtly attempting to manipulate the political scene and views by selectively removing postings that do not agree with their political agenda.
Quite sad for a newspaper that portrays to exemplify THEIR right to express their opinion, but no one elses.
JBlim on June 04 at 7:55 a.m.
They’re not paying 6 figures salaries to people who dropped out of high school and spent their lives goofing off (like many of you - you know who you are). You actually have to have skills and talent, obviously there are exceptions here and there. But if want to find competent lawyers and other professionals, you might have to pony up the dough.
Spokanelaw on June 04 at 2:13 p.m.
As a follower of Cathy McMorris, I can see where he gets his hubris. The GOP wants to demolish the prosperous middle class. He will talk about your pay but not his own. Good luck with that strategy.
Providing_Buttonholes on June 06 at 9:19 p.m.
So Spokane law.. as a follower of McMorris is he more into brown nosing or A%% Kissing? Depth perception being the salient difference between the two?
Where is Cherie Rodgers?