Jindal proposing $75,000 hike for economic development secretary

DATELINE: BATON ROUGE La.

Gov. Bobby Jindal is seeking raises for three of his cabinet secretaries, with a nearly $75,000 pay bump proposed for his economic development chief a salary that one lawmaker Wednesday called "offensive."

If lawmakers agree, Stephen Moret would receive $320,000 a year as secretary of the Department of Economic Development. His predecessor got nearly $245,746 a year.

Rep. Karen Carter Peterson questioned the need for the increase, saying many people in state government sacrificed other, high-paying job offers because they felt their state work was important.

"I have to admit that your salary, it's offensive to me. And for all of the people that have been working in state government, I'm not sure ... why is it prudent for us to do that right now?" Peterson, D-New Orleans, asked during a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee.

Moret left his job as head of the nine-parish Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce, which he had held since 2004, after being recruited by the Jindal administration to lead the economic development department. With bonuses, his annual salary at the chamber would have neared $500,000.

"The governor recruited Mr. Moret because he is uniquely qualified for the job that we want done. He took a pay cut. We have high expectations for him. We will hold him accountable for his performance," said Jindal's top budget adviser, Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis.

"We are very comfortable with the salary we have offered him," she said.

Jindal has proposed raises for three of his 13 cabinet secretaries. The secretary of the state's prisons department, Jimmy LeBlanc, and the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, Col. Mike Edmonson, also are in line for salary hikes in the governor's budget proposal for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

LeBlanc's salary next year would grow by more than $10,000 from $126,655 to $136,719. Edmonson's salary would increase by less than $2,000 from $132,483 to $134,351, according to numbers provided Wednesday by Davis' office.

The Division of Administration said of 73 cabinet appointee positions cabinet secretaries and their undersecretaries, deputy secretaries and assistant secretaries 11 were in line for pay increases in Jindal's budget proposal for the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Including Moret, four of the increases are in the economic development department. Moret's deputy secretary would get the largest of all proposed cabinet appointee pay hikes: a more than $94,000 salary increase from $143,460 to $237,500, according to the salary list provided by Davis' office.

But lawmakers only were vocal in their questions about Moret's salary.

Rep. Jean-Paul Morrell, D-New Orleans, said North Carolina and Alabama have outperformed Louisiana's economic development efforts and pay their department secretaries much less $117,000 a year in North Carolina and $156,000 in Alabama.

He questioned why the Jindal administration would propose any pay increases while also talking about cutting government jobs and shrinking government spending.

"The governor has made economic development a priority, and he intends to invest in economic development," Davis said. "In order to get Mr. Moret to work at economic development, we had to offer him a very competitive salary, and that's what we did."

Davis said Moret was the most qualified person for the position and has a level of experience and background in business that many other economic development secretaries in other states don't have.

"If we don't approve it, do you leave?" Peterson asked Moret about the pay raise.

Moret said he had a "wonderful situation" at the chamber of commerce and didn't seek to leave it, but was lured by his conversations with the governor. He said he had expected the governor's salary commitment to be honored, and he said while he understands the salary was significant, it also was a large pay cut.

"To be quite frank with you, I was not willing to take a 50 percent cut to take this job," Moret said.