Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Traditional Politics, Doyle Version

No big surprise here.

Gov. Jim Doyle's administration has hired a former legislative aide convicted of two misdemeanors in the caucus scandal to a six-figure job leading the state's federal lobbying effort.

Tanya Bjork, 38, was convicted of two misdemeanors in 2005 for her role in the largest political scandal in state history. Bjork served as a chief of staff to former Sen. Brian Burke (D-Milwaukee), who was convicted of a felony and misdemeanor in 2005 as part of a widespread investigation that uncovered political campaigning using taxpayer resources. Before she worked for Burke, she worked for the Assembly Democratic Caucus

What makes Ms. Bjork so extra-special?

Heck said the job represented a "continuation of the political spoils system" because Bjork ran the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in Wisconsin.

Even with a fiscal crisis, Doyle managed to find a bunch of money.

Bjork, who started the new job Monday, will earn $102,000 a year - 17% more than her predecessor. The job had been open for about 14 months

Fourteen months, or just about the timeframe during which Ms. Bjork was otherwise occupied (with Obama.)

1 comment:

Shoebox said...

Well, I'm sure she has special abilities that only she can bring to whatever issue Doyle has her working on...just like Geithner. This is a corollary to "too big to fail" i.e. "too smart to not be hired"