This cozy deal stinks!
This story might be added to the very long list of reasons as to why we need newspapers to continue to be a daily part of our lives. Thanks to the reporting work of the Wisconsin State Journal we now know of how some of the our tax dollars are being wasted.
When Jack E. Daniels starts as president of Madison Area Technical College on Monday, he’ll not be the college’s highest-paid employee. That title will continue to belong to the woman he’s replacing.
Outgoing president Bettsey Barhorst, who announced her retirement in January, will remain with the college as an on-call consultant through the end of the year, paid at her current annual salary of just under $240,000 a year. Daniels will earn a bit less at $238,000 annually.
Over the next 19 weeks, Barhorst’s contract addendum works out to a payout of about $88,000. Her new emeritus role requires her to be available in person or by phone for the first month if Daniels or a board member seeks her counsel. Any travel expenses will be covered by the college. After that, according to her contract, consultations “may be by phone.”
The arrangement, approved June 12 by the school’s District Board in a closed session, has not been formally announced by the college, save for a line deep in the press release announcing Daniels’ hire that Barhorst “has agreed to remain through the transition.”
While it makes sense to have a transition for the new president, and it should be compensated, there is also a time when there is just pure greed and mismanagement. Such is the case with allowing Bettsey Barhorst to milk the taxpayers in this fashion.
I very often disagree with State Representative Steve Nass and his chirpy mouthpiece Mike Mikalsen but in this case I very much agree with their position.
“If that’s true and she’s remaining at full salary, that would be stunning,” he said. “It’s going to be very difficult to make the case that Jack Daniels, who has a history of running schools, would need that transitional presence.”
This story will continue to be debated and considered in the days to come, as it should. Barhorst made some very questionable decisions during her time with MATC that created a budget shortfall, and now wants to continue milking the taxpayers for being ‘on call’.
Good Lord!
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
The Wis. State Journal had it right. It’s disgusting when Scott Wanker does it with the top two Capitol police cops, and it’s appalling when Madison liberals (like Noel Radomski) do it with MATC. And it’s a lot like the Chicago Metra trying to buy off a whisle-blower CEO to keep him from exposing patronage corruption by IL assy speaker Michael Madigan. As Willy Stark said, just keep paying the bills losers!