No sacrifices

Friday, April 3, 2009 | 2 a.m.

In the midst of a state budget crisis, Gov. Jim Gibbons constantly has reminded everyone that Nevada cannot afford to be anything but frugal. In his mind, he is doing everything possible to cut fat from government.

He sees fat everywhere, especially in higher education, which he proposes cutting its budget by 36 percent over the next two years. He wants schoolteachers and state workers to take pay cuts, too.

Well, not all state workers. Just ask his staff.

As Cy Ryan reported last month in the Las Vegas Sun, a sister publication of In Business Las Vegas, members of Gibbons’ team have either received hefty salary hikes in the past two years or have received far more pay than their predecessors.

When Melissa Subbotin was Gibbons’ press secretary, she was paid $72,287. Within 18 months of her departure, the salary paid for that position, now held by Daniel Burns, rose to $109,996. Legislative assistant Jodi Stevens saw her salary skyrocket from $50,196 in January 2007 to $99,994 in April 2008. Nicholas Vander Poel received $40,152 when he was hired in January 2007 as executive assistant to the governor’s chief of staff. Within six months, Vander Poel’s salary rose to $60,289.

Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, put the issue in perspective when she told colleagues at a legislative hearing: “It looks like the salaries were picked out of the air.”

Although Gibbons has discretion in how he spends money on staff salaries, his actions smack of hypocrisy. He is a governor who has not learned how to lead by example.