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Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007

'Corrective actions' taken on raises key Miller aide got

AT ISSUE: LACK OF WRITTEN JUSTIFICATION

Former State Treasurer Jonathan Miller's office wrongly processed two significant raises for a key staffer, but the mistakes can be easily fixed, the state Personnel Cabinet's chief lawyer ruled Wednesday.

The Personnel Cabinet already has begun processing "corrective actions" that will resolve questions about raises received by Rebecca Brooke Parker, Miller's former deputy treasurer.

The action reverses a decision made last week by outgoing Personnel Cabinet Secretary Brian Crall, who rejected the same proposed fix and chose to refer the matter to the state Personnel Board for further investigation. At a meeting Friday, the board opted to give the treasury an opportunity to fix the errors.

Miller is now Gov. Steve Beshear's Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary. Beshear, who made ethics a centerpiece of his campaign, has appointed Parker to be executive director of inter-governmental affairs for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet.

At issue were two salary increases, amounting to a total of $566.92 a month, awarded to Parker in June 2004. Crall said the raises should never have been granted because there was no written justification to support them.

Dan Egbers, the Personnel Cabinet's new general counsel, agreed in a letter issued Wednesday that the pay raises weren't properly documented, but said they can be resubmitted to the cabinet as a bonus known to state employees as an ACE, or Award for Continuing Excellence.

"I find that Ms. Parker met the eligibility requirements for the award," Egbers wrote.

Egbers is the same person who previously proposed to Crall a way to fix the errors. At the time, he was acting as a consultant to Crall.

Wednesday, Egbers said the matter "has now been resolved in the best interests of the commonwealth."

Parker saw her salary rise from $21,000 a year when Miller hired her out of college as a secretary in 2000 to $78,981 a year this year as deputy state treasurer. That's an increase of nearly 280 percent in seven years.

Miller denied any suggestion that he gave Parker undue favorable treatment, but said he has relied on her input regarding "personal business" matters such as future job opportunities.

For instance, Parker accompanied Miller on a trip to Las Vegas between May 14 and 17, just after Miller dropped out of the Democratic primary for governor. When questioned about the trip by the Herald-Leader in October, Miller initially said he couldn't remember whether Parker went with him.

In an interview with WHAS-TV in Louisville Wednesday, Miller said "innuendo" surrounding news of his trip to Las Vegas with Parker has been "hurtful."

"Those people who are aware of the close friendship that Brooke and my wife Lisa have find this laughable, but it's not funny," Miller said.

The Republican Party of Kentucky yesterday called on the attorney general's office to investigate the raises offered Parker, but Attorney General Greg Stumbo said his office doesn't "have any reason to believe that criminal activity took place."

The State Personnel Board also is investigating the October 2006 hiring of merit employee Michael Bates, who works in the treasury's printing department. Crall said the hiring is an instance of improper "pre-selection."