Even before Mayor Vincent Gray had decided who would permanently lead the Department of Parks and Recreation, he had begun sending political appointees to the agency. Cherita Whiting arrived to serve as a “special assistant.” Nicholas Hall went in as a “writer-editor.” “I did not request them. I did not interview them,” Jesus Aguirre said about the duo, under questioning last week by Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, chairman of the Committee on Libraries, Parks and Recreation.
Aguirre, a holdover from the previous administration, wasn’t named until a week ago by Gray. By then, Whiting, who strongly supported his mayoral bid, and Hall, the son of Gray’s $200,000-a-year chief of staff, were ensconced in the agency.
Hall’s mother, Gerri Mason Hall, is one of several people receiving exorbitant salaries about which I first reported in this space on Jan. 25. Her salary is $40,000 more than her predecessor. “The chief of staff now has budget responsibility,” Gray said recently, defending her compensation. But he has a budget director, Eric Goulet, who earns $152,240. Five other people work with Goulet, each pulling down between $125,000 and $94,000; the total cost for that staff is $722,240. By law, however, it is the city’s chief financial officer, Natwar Gandhi, who is actually responsible for the city’s budget.
The salaries paid to Hall’s son and Whiting ($55,000 and $65,000 respectively) by comparison are pittance. Their employment, previously reported in the press, is troublesome. But, this isn’t really about them.
This is all about Gray: his questionable financial priorities and faulty management decisions. What happened at DPR is emblematic of both.
That Aguirre, the agency’s director, wasn’t provided an opportunity to interview people who would work for him was unconscionable. Equally stunning is that Gray somehow believed hiring political cronies was the best use of public funds, despite the fiscal challenges facing the city.
Hall and Whiting’s salaries could have paid for three frontline workers at recreation centers — except that DPR, like all District agencies, was under a hiring freeze. Gray had requested the freeze last year when he was council chairman and then-Mayor Adrian Fenty approved it.
That’s right. Gray dumped his political friends at DPR while the agency couldn’t hire critical employees who could provide direct services to District residents.
Aguirre told the council he recently received a waiver to hire 25 people. “[Still] some centers are severely understaffed. I don’t believe we have enough program staff,” he said.
On Sunday DPR spokesman John Stokes told me, “We need all the help we can get and we need the services of Whiting and Hall.”
But Bowser had already warned Aguirre that when the 2012 budget comes before the council, “I will frown on buffing up the central office when you have needs in recreation centers.”
The legislature has its own problems, including a chairman who appears addicted to the trappings of his office. Still, council members should send a strong message to the executive. The needs of District residents — the folks footing the bill — will take priority over payback to political cronies.
Jonetta Rose Barras’ column appears on Monday and Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected].
