Bredesen defends hefty state pay raises – Cabinet members get thousands; other employees get 3%

But the Democratic governor told the Associated Press in an interview that he was willing to take the heat for the pay hikes to keep key commissioners on staff for the duration of his second term ‘ and to give his successor an easier time assembling a Cabinet.

Several of the raises approved by Bredesen exceeded the amounts recommended by an independent consultant.

‘I had no expectation of any treatment in the press other than the one I got,’ Bredesen said of a report critical about the raises.

Bredesen last week announced the raises that include creating a new top-scale pay grade of $180,000 for key commissioners. That means Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz will earn $32,412 more per year, while Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber will see a $69,336, or 63 percent, hike.

In all, the announced raises for each commissioner and 38 other key officials whose salaries are tied to their bosses’ pay make up $930,000 of a $3.1 million pay raise package for executive branch officials.

‘It was a perfectly reasonable thing to do,’ Bredesen said about the executive branch raises. ‘But it’s a lot easier to go out and say: ‘Why does somebody get 3 percent and somebody else get 40 percent’?

The Legislature this year approved a 3 percent pay raise for most state employees.

Bredesen said the old salary levels were artificially depressed because of political considerations, and that they made the assembly of his first Cabinet a challenge.

‘Not everybody was my first or second or third offer for those positions,’ Bredesen said. ‘There were enormous issues of salary in terms of bringing people in.’

The governor called the raises ‘one of my gifts to the next governor.’

Bredesen said the goal is not to compete with private sector jobs, but that pay must get ‘into a reasonable range.’ Several directors of chambers of commerce in the state and top Metro Nashville positions get paid significantly more than top state officials, he said.

Both Goetz and Kisber were likely candidates to leave the administration if their pay was not increased, Bredesen said.

Bredesen shrugged off the fact that several members of his administration will now make more than the governor’s $159,960 annual salary. Governors are unlikely to seek the job because of the money ‘ or to be lured away by better paying jobs once in office, he said.

Bredesen, who earned millions from a health care company he founded, returns his entire salary to the state each year.