Meanwhile in Canada……
Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls out the liberal outgoing Wynne government"
LILLEY: Liberals raid the cookie jar on the way out the door
Wanna get rich?
Forget online day trading or multi-level marketing, find a way to become a former Liberal staffer.
One of the most outrageous findings from the 2018 Sunshine List would be the number of former Liberal political staffers that made out like bandits on the way out the door.
Kathleen Wynne’s former chief of staff, Andrew Bevan, saw a salary bump from nearly $314,000 in 2017 to more than $552,000 in 2018.
Did I mention that Bevan’s job was effectively over by May 9 when the election was called?
Former Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne celebrates her political career after announcing to supporters that she is stepping away from her Liberal seat during her election night party at York Mills Gallery in Toronto on June 7, 2018. Christopher Katsarov / THE CANADIAN PRESS
While the Sunshine List has included severance in the past, the Liberals refused to say whether the figures released for Bevan and Wynne’s other top people included such payments.
Wynne, meanwhile, earned a paltry $162,248 for her time as both premier for the first six months and a lonely independent MPP for the last six months of the year.
While Wynne’s salary went down from nearly $209,000 in 2017, Bevan and many other Liberal staffers went up even as voters showed them and their policies the door.
Mary Rowe, the executive advisor to the premier went from a salary of $259,000 in 2017 to $428,000 in 2018.
Not bad for four months’ work.
Bevan got an increase in income of 77% despite working only one-third of the year; Rowe got a boost of about 65% in her income.
They were not alone.
While plenty of junior staffers stayed at their regular salaries, those at the top did quite well for themselves even as voters sent them and their political masters packing.
Shelley Potter, Wynne’s deputy chief of staff, planning and administration went from more than $174,000 to about $285,000.
A nice 64% increase in annual income, again, all while working just four months of the year and being rejected by the voters.
There are so many former senior Liberal staffers that got sweet payoffs that it is disgusting.
I get that in order to attract the best and brightest to the unstable world of politics that you need to offer good salaries and even offer a decent severance package.
But in what world does it make sense that people working just one-third of the year make far more salary when they are fired than if they had worked all year.
Let me put this in perspective, the latest numbers from Statistics Canada show that the average person working full-time earns just about $1,086.68 a week or $55,571 a year.
Or what Bevan made before the middle of March for being the top political staffer in a government voters were so sick of that they reduced it to less than official party status.
I don’t know Bevan; I’ve only had a few interactions with him when he was working for failed Liberal leader Stephane Dion.
But despite all the people that tell me he is smart, plugged in and a good guy, I can’t see how he is worth the money we paid him on the way out the door.
This is what I would call rewarding people for failing upwards.
Your ideas are so bad that the voters reject you totally and yet you still end up with more money — despite failing.
What can we expect from a class of people that live with assistants to do their every bidding and cars and drivers to take them where they want to go?
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These are the people that are “entitled to their entitlements” as former federal Liberal cabinet minister David Dingwall once said.
And you, you are entitled to pay for their entitlements.
I hope you are grateful.
This is what I would call rewarding people for failing upwards.
Your ideas are so bad that the voters reject you totally and yet you still end up with more money — despite failing.
What can we expect from a class of people that live with assistants to do their every bidding and cars and drivers to take them where they want to go?
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