OLYMPIA — Some of Gov.-elect Jay Inslee’s first batch of hires will be paid higher salaries than those working in the same jobs for outgoing Gov. Chris Gregoire.
Mary Alice Heuschel, who will be chief of staff when Inslee takes office Wednesday, will be his highest-paid senior staffer at $166,000 a year, according to a spokeswoman for the transition team.
That is her gross salary after factoring in a 3 percent salary reduction imposed on state workers in the last budget, the spokeswoman noted.
By comparison, the annual salary for Gregoire’s chief of staff Marty Loesch is $166,000 before the 3 percent reduction, making his net earnings $158,160, according to a spokeswoman for Gregoire.
Inslee’s next highest-paid appointees thus far are David Schumacher, who will be director of the Office of Financial Management, and Kevin Quigley, who will be secretary of the Department of Social and Health Services. Both will earn $158,160 after calculating in the salary reduction.
Schumacher will earn slightly less than former OFM Director Marty Brown, according to the most recent data of state employee salaries posted online at fiscal.wa.gov.
However Quigley, a Lake Stevens resident, will be paid a couple thousand dollars a year more than Susan Dreyfus did before she stepped down at the end of 2011.
One Inslee appointee will be in a job category all her own.
Joby Shimomura has been hired as a senior adviser and will be paid $140,650 a year. Shimomura managed Inslee’s 2012 campaign and worked six years as chief of staff in his congressional office.
Gregoire did not employ a senior adviser in her two terms, her office said.
Here is what other hires in Inslee’s administration will be paid. All the figures reflect their salaries after the 3 percent reduction.
Dale Peinecke, director of the Employment Security Department, $147,153; Joel Sacks, commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industries, $140,650; Ted Sturdevant, executive director for legislative affairs and policy, $137,304; David Postman, executive director of communications, $131,040; Marcie Frost, director of the Department of Retirement Systems, $126,964, and Alfie Alvarado-Ramos, director of the Department of Veterans Affairs, $116,964.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
