It's hard to feign outrage anymore when we hear about big bonuses being doled out to employees this time of year -- a time when many people are being laid off due to "budget corrections."
The latest example of corporate gluttony comes from ... the D.C. government. Wait a minute, that can't be right. Isn't the District swimming in a sea of red ink? Aren't employees being shown the door due to budget tightening?
Apparently someone found Mayor Fenty's big bag o' money he buried somewhere in Vincent Gray's fenced-in back yard.
Hundreds of D.C. employees have been paid more than $565,000 in bonuses since October, according to the Washington Examiner.
Sounds like a lot, and it is. The District has handed out nearly $15 million in bonuses and awards since January 2007, the Examiner reported. Where did the money go? The paper said nearly half of that cash went to DCPS employees, including Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
So while the doom and gloom of the recession has forced all of us to cut back, the D.C. government's man-purse has been open for business, especially for Rhee's friends in the controversial school system.
Some examples of who got what, from the Examiner:
- Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee, $41,250 in bonuses in 2007
- Schools superintendent executive Mary Clegg, $25,000 in 2009
- Schools special ed executive Karen Griffin, $25,000 in 2008
- D.C. Retirement Board member Eric Stanchfield, $21,997 in 2009
- Finance Office Executive Anthony Pompa, $21,796 in 2008
- City Property Manager Robin-Eve Jasper, $18,000 from 2008-09
- Dept. of Health Director Pierre Vigilance, $15,000 in 2008
