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The City of Houston, folks. Ol' Sylvester did us dirty

5,418 Views | 36 Replies | Last: 3 mo ago by Jugstore Cowboy
Ciboag96
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Ciboag96
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Ciboag96
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Milwaukees Best Light
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I fear for his safety.
ChemAg15
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Whitmire might be the last respectable democrat.
txags92
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ChemAg15 said:

Whitmire might be the last respectable democrat.


He is the rare democrat who has run a successful business and thinks government should run the same way.
Mas89
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Jugstore Cowboy
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Quote:

He is the rare democrat who has run a successful business and thinks government should run the same way.

Well....let's not go overboard.
98Ag99Grad
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He hates Lina. Guy is alright in my book.
Ciboag96
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txags92 said:


has run a successful business and thinks government should run the same way.

BBRex
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Texas Tribune has the salaries for state employees. They used to do all the school districts and local governments, but you have to dedicate a lot of people, time and resources to get it done.

https://salaries.texastribune.org/
Sea Speed
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It really does piss me off that govt employees who essentially add no value to society are paid so much money.
CheeseSndwch
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A fifty person marketing department for Metro might seem a bit excessive but who among us could argue with the lasting impact of this banger.
William Foster
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Sea Speed said:

It really does piss me off that govt employees who essentially add no value to society are paid so much money.
And that said society pays for it.
P.H. Dexippus
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Sea Speed said:

It really does piss me off that govt employees who essentially add no subtract value to from society are paid so much money.
FIFY
CDUB98
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It used to be that gov't employee salaries were low compared to private, because it was public service. The flip side was a good retirement for the sacrifice.

Now, there is not service, high salaries, and ludicrously enormous retirement packages.
Diggity
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tell me more about these salad days when government employees were in the service business
CDUB98
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It was better in the days before we were born.
TarponChaser
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Diggity said:

tell me more about these salad days when government employees were in the service business

Well they usually sucked at their jobs but they didn't get paid much for them. Then in 1962 Kennedy issued an executive order which allowed for the unionization of government employees and it snowballed from there. It took a while but the very real corruption and legalization of what is effectively a money-laundering operation for Dem politicians has become complete. These unions donate massive amounts of taxpayer funds to elect representatives who negotiate their salaries and benefit packages only these representatives owe their office to the unions who are their "adversaries" in these negotiations so these compensation packages just keep getting richer and richer. Lather, rinse, and repeat.

It used to be that the trade-off was we wouldn't pay them much or expect much out of them but it was almost impossible to fire them. Now, because of those government employee unions they get paid a ton, still don't do jack, and are almost impossible to fire.
Diggity
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certainly seems like a lot of these groups are top heavy these days, but I don't really buy that the average government employee is "paid a ton". The pensions/benefits are nice of course.

I think we can agree they've always been pretty mediocre at their jobs.
TarponChaser
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Relative to the private sector and performance I'd disagree. And the pensions have traditionally been pretty large. It's a big reason why so many pension funds are in disarray- they're paying out far more than they should.
Sea Speed
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Where I worked, a gs-15 would make $225k but it was in a role that actually did something productive and necessary and had to spend way more time gone than I would have preferred. The people in our office did absolutely NOTHING. Legit wouldn't answer phones or emails for months. I got to see the absolute insanity of these govt offices up close and it was infuriating. It is insane to me how many govt workers do nothing and no one does anything about it. I tried so hard to get people fired for cause only for them to be reassigned over and over.
bularry
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If those SVPs were doing something, I wouldn't even be that mad, but knowing that likely most of those spots were created for friends and family unqualified for the positions does royally piss me off. hopefully they are restructuring those groups ASAP.

the 50 person marketing group isn't a big deal. Metro is a big organization and usually marketing controls a lot of elements around website, communications, customer contacts, dealing with 3rd party vendors, etc. as long as most are staff persons, doesn't seem egregious.

GoAgs11
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I work for a big company director level up does nothing but go to meetings and answer a few emails, and kiss ass not much different in private sector
txags92
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CDUB98 said:

It used to be that gov't employee salaries were low compared to private, because it was public service. The flip side was a good retirement for the sacrifice.

Now, there is not service, high salaries, and ludicrously enormous retirement packages.
Don't go work for any state agency as a scientist or engineer if you think there are high salaries. My wife took about a 40% pay cut to go to work for the state. It was a job doing what she always wanted and much lower stress for her, but the salary was not one of the "pros" for taking the job at all.
Ryan the Temp
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Sea Speed said:

Where I worked, a gs-15 would make $225k but it was in a role that actually did something productive and necessary and had to spend way more time gone than I would have preferred. The people in our office did absolutely NOTHING. Legit wouldn't answer phones or emails for months. I got to see the absolute insanity of these govt offices up close and it was infuriating. It is insane to me how many govt workers do nothing and no one does anything about it. I tried so hard to get people fired for cause only for them to be reassigned over and over.
Government agencies reward incompetence and punish competence. I've seen it firsthand many, many times.
Milwaukees Best Light
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Those 29 making over 250 must suck a mean D. Marvin was only getting 100. Maybe he was still honing his craft.
Jugstore Cowboy
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CDUB98 said:

It used to be that gov't employee salaries were low compared to private, because it was public service. The flip side was a good retirement for the sacrifice.

Now, there is not service, high salaries, and ludicrously enormous retirement packages.
The salaries mentioned in the article are not the norm for most government jobs below department heads or doctorate level specialists.

This is part of a larger context of local Democrats like Sylvester Turner, Lina Hidalgo, Adrian Garcia, etc, using government jobs and contracts to pay political operatives and friends.
AgLA06
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CDUB98 said:

Now, there is not service, high salaries, and ludicrously enormous retirement packages.
That's never been the case.

I looked at one of these at a director role and it was average hours, low salaries, and worse retirement and insurance. So you're getting what they are willing to pay for.

It used to be average hours, lower salaries, great insurance and retirement. My grandfather did his 20 or 25 with the state before retiring and taking his pension. Them moved over to an exec position in private industry making multiples of his public sector job for another 13 years.
TarponChaser
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AgLA06 said:

CDUB98 said:

Now, there is not service, high salaries, and ludicrously enormous retirement packages.
That's never been the case.

I looked at one of these at a director role and it was average hours, low salaries, and worse retirement and insurance. So you're getting what they are willing to pay for.

It used to be average hours, lower salaries, great insurance and retirement. My grandfather did his 20 or 25 with the state before retiring and taking his pension. Them moved over to an exec position in private industry making multiples of his public sector job for another 13 years.

I'll have to find the studies but your anecdotal evidence is incorrect. The pay for a large number of these roles, and especially the retirement benefits, have ballooned greatly in the last 40 years or so. They're still below the private sector for similar roles but the main difference is that it's virtually impossible to terminate a public sector employee.
ChipFTAC01
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For the record Metro doesn't have 50 people in their marketing department. He must have meant the City had 50 in their marketing department.

Source: I used to work there and was friends with most of the marketing department because they were largely the only normal people under 40.
Poot
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Normal marketing people? The math doesn't work.
MAROON
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txags92 said:

ChemAg15 said:

Whitmire might be the last respectable democrat.


He is the rare democrat who has run a successful business and thinks government should run the same way.

I like John a lot. But he's never to my knowledge run a business, much less a successful business. His only job has been a a politician. Was elected to office when he was 24 and has never not been in office since then.
txags92
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MAROON said:

txags92 said:

ChemAg15 said:

Whitmire might be the last respectable democrat.


He is the rare democrat who has run a successful business and thinks government should run the same way.

I like John a lot. But he's never to my knowledge run a business, much less a successful business. His only job has been a a politician. Was elected to office when he was 24 and has never not been in office since then.
I stand corrected. I had thought he was a business owner before getting into politics. Must have him confused with somebody else. Either way, if he thinks Dora is a useless fraud, he is ok in my book.
Jugstore Cowboy
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Whitmire is an attorney, and I think was still a student at UH when he was first elected to the legislature in the 70's.

Did have a legal practice, of course, as the legislature is not full time.
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