Even by California's debauched standards of public thrift, a scandal emerging this week out of the University of California system represents a new low.
UC-Berkeley administration Diane Leite is on the hot seat after it was revealed that a purchasing officer she supervised saw his annual salary nearly triple from just over $40,000 in 2005 to $120,000 in 2010 -- pay increases pushed by Leite at the same time she was having an affair with him.
UC-Berkeley administration Diane Leite is on the hot seat after it was revealed that a purchasing officer she supervised saw his annual salary nearly triple from just over $40,000 in 2005 to $120,000 in 2010 -- pay increases pushed by Leite at the same time she was having an affair with him.
The San Jose Mercury News, which has been doggedly pursuing the story has the latest:
Here, sadly, we see all the pathologies that, taken together, are eroding California's public sector: an educational system so sclerotic that virtually no misbehavior rises to the level of a firing offense; exorbitant taxpayer-financed salaries; and rampant cronyism. We can hope that Leite eventually receives the dismissal she has earned. But until the dysfunctional system that produced her is reformed, the proliferation of such extravagant public-sector waste will only continue.
Calling Diane Leite's punishment "an affront" to the university, several UC Berkeley professors have asked the school's provost to investigate how the matter was handled. They are aghast that, instead of firing her, the university reassigned Leite from her assistant vice chancellor post and will still pay her $175,000 a year.Lest you think this simply a slap on the wrist, do note that $175,000 a year is a reduction from the $188,000 Leite was making before. Please hold your applause.
Here, sadly, we see all the pathologies that, taken together, are eroding California's public sector: an educational system so sclerotic that virtually no misbehavior rises to the level of a firing offense; exorbitant taxpayer-financed salaries; and rampant cronyism. We can hope that Leite eventually receives the dismissal she has earned. But until the dysfunctional system that produced her is reformed, the proliferation of such extravagant public-sector waste will only continue.
