State agencies defend executive pay
With top executives drawing the highest management pay in state government, officials from the Texas Department of Transportation and the Employees Retirement System told a new legislative oversight committee on Tuesday that those salaries are needed to keep pace with the private sector.
The House Select Committee on Transparency in State Operations, named by Speaker Joe Straus less than two months ago, is charged with shining “a bright light” on the operations of state government, said its co-chairman, Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton — although it remains unclear how the committee will make that happen.
Also appearing before the committee Tuesday was the leader of a third agency, Department of Public Safety Executive Director Steven McCraw, who endorsed the job being done by his emergency management chief, Nim Kidd, under an unusual contract that was not made public until the American-Statesman disclosed it more than two years after the fact.
“I’m the one” who picked Kidd in 2010, when Kidd was managing San Antonio’s homeland security department, McCraw told the committee. “I’m very proud of him.”
More at http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/state-agencies-defend-executive-pay/nWxtW/ .