President Nee- Steve Kass: A Real Life Example of Wasteful State Spending
By looking at Mr. Kass’ record of state service it appears that he has become exactly what he claimed not to be—a political hack who is biding time in a do-nothing job while waiting for his pension to kick in so he can retire.
Kass was originally tabbed as the Governor’s $126,000 plus director of communications in 2005. His only qualifications for the job appear to be knowing the Governor and supporting his policies and campaigns. Kass admittedly never even saw the governor very much while he was supposedly serving as his communications director. After several high profile communications missteps, including racist remarks to a GOP town chairman, state privatization issues, and failure to communicate with the public during the December 2007 snow storm-during which Kass went home early-he was transferred from the Governor’s office to the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency with his $126,000 a year salary intact.
Even after a pay and title cut, Kass still makes a current salary of $75,000 a year as the spokesperson for the RIEMA making him the highest paid spokesperson of any Emergency Management Agency in New England and higher paid than spokespeople in the larger Departments of Health, Corrections, and Labor and Training. What exactly does Rhode Island get in return from someone who is paid 1.5 times the salary and benefits of the previous spokesperson?
According to the Providence Journal article, Rhode Island gets plagiarized press releases copied from other states, programs for school children developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and an idea to give whistles to college students. That is not the record of achievement one would expect from such a highly paid administration official, especially considering that the RIEMA has had to turn off the lights in offices, cut back on cell-phone use, and defer maintenance and upkeep plans in order to afford Kass’ job.
This spring when floods devastated Rhode Island, a situation that desperately cried out for someone to communicate with the public the vital information necessary to stay safe and secure, it is telling the Governor’s office, from which Steve Kass was previously reassigned, and not the RIEMA was coordinating communications with Rhode Island residents.
While Steve Kass did nothing during the floods, there were thousands of union workers out day and night working to protect, clean-up, and repair our beautiful state. The effort Rhode Island union members put forth during this time of crisis for our state was immeasurable: from the firefighters and police officers that protected residents and property, to the sewage treatment workers who tirelessly worked to restore the plants in Warwick and Cranston, to the municipal employees who cleaned our cities and towns when the waters subsided, to the highway workers who repaired the damaged roadways, to the wastewater management workers who protected our drinking water supplies.
With many of their own families and homes threatened by the flood waters Rhode Island’s rank-and-file union do-something workers did everything in their power to protect, clean, and repair our state. It is a testament to the dedication and professionalism of our state and municipal workers that the affects of the flood were minimized and most cities and towns were able to get back to normal.
Steve Kass can hand out backpacks and whistles to school children all he wants while he waits for another pay raise, but when the real work needs to be done in Rhode Island it will be our municipal and state “get the job done employees” who will be out there day and night making sure that Rhode Island is the best it can possibly be.
By: George Nee
President, Rhode Island AFL-CIO
