Troy King and Ever-Expanding Staff Pay

It's a tough economy out there these days, and a whole lot of Alabamians are looking for jobs. The other day I thought about a possibility--I wondered if I could perhaps find a new job with a few criteria. Namely, my new job would be tailored around me, and it wouldn't matter if I could actually do the job as its description read. I'd also instantly receive a significant raise, just by taking the job, and my experience wouldn't matter in the slightest, as long as I was loyal enough to my boss. Sounds pretty unrealistic, right? Well, not in Troy King's world.

Turns out, our AG Troy King has a history of "fitting" his loyal supporters into special roles on his staff. Take Chris Bence, as one example. Once you start reading stories about Troy King, you'll find that Bence's name always seems to come up. Sometimes, he's referred to as a "spokesman," and other times he is referred to as the "chief of staff." However, to AG Troy King, Bence is neither of these things. AG King classifies Chris Bence as a "paralegal," even though he has no training as a paralegal and at least doesn't appear to perform paralegal functions in the office. Why? Well, Troy King wanted to give Bence a big raise, and this move to "paralegal" allowed Bence to go from making $94,000 to $104,400 a year, according to the Montgomery Advertiser and other papers which covered the story, including Birmingham, Huntsville, Gadsden, and points around Alabama. When Bence was asked about this by the Birmingham News, he responded that 'the titles are all flexible.' However, as the Montgomery Advertiser muses: "We wonder how that makes trained paralegals feel." It also seems funny, that as Troy King is regularly hiring outside lawyers for "help" on legal issues, he is filling his professional staff with political operatives. Maybe that's why taxpayers are shelling out over $100,000 for his legal defense.

However, the issue gets even worse. Take Tyler Godwin, Troy King's executive assistant. He started out as an unpaid intern in college, and suddenly 10 months later saw himself making $57,000. Now, that is one great entry-level job. Of course, we haven't even talked about the salary of King himself. Even though it was set by the legislature before he arrived, Troy King is the second-highest paid Attorney General in the country, second only to Jerry Brown of California.

This whole situation reeks, particularly in a time of economic crisis. Conservatives are supposed to be about responsible government, and doing more with less. When Jeff Sessions and Bill Pryor were AG, they were focused on "public service," not the "public dole." Troy King is trying to convince us that his intern-turned-executive assistant and political operative paralegal are more important than funding for better teachers in our schools or perhaps, even returning more tax dollars to us, the people. Well, I don't buy it.

I close with these words from a Decatur Daily News editorial from July 30, 2008: "Alabama Attorney General Troy King is doing his best to counter the economic downturn--at least among his staff...Maybe Mr. King doesn't understand the struggle many working men and women are experiencing in this sluggish economy. After all, he is the second highest paid attorney general in the country. And he has friends like Alabama Power Co. who pay for his family baseball tickets and food at the game." Folks, it is past time to hold Troy King accountable for his misuse of his office, and his arrogance in the face of a suffering state.