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Gov't signing bonuses: Your Tax $ in Action
Edited for brevity.The president of University of the District of Columbia has given a $10,000 signing bonus to a family friend he hired for the school's No. 3 job despite her lack of qualifications. Susan D. Saunders, the university's director of government affairs, said UDC officials authorized the $10,000 signing bonus for Wilhelmina M. Reuben-Cooke after the City Administrator's Office, the D.C. Office of Personnel and the university's Human Resources Department reviewed the deal. D.C. Council member Harold P. Brazil, who called for Mrs. Reuben-Cooke's resignation on Wednesday, said yesterday the signing bonus adds to the "appearance of favoritism" by UDC President William L. Pollard. The at-large Democrat said he didn't know if signing bonuses are common in academia, but the deal invites more questions about the hire. "That becomes part and parcel of the fundamental question: If she doesn't meet the prerequisite of the job, why does she have it?" Mr. Brazil said. Mr. Pollard hired Mrs. Reuben-Cooke as the school's provost and vice president of academic affairs a $137,000-a-year job for which she lacks the requisite experience and education. She started her new job Wednesday. Mrs. Reuben-Cooke, who was a tenured law professor at Syracuse University, is married to Edmund Cooke, a District-based lawyer who helped Mr. Pollard secure his $200,000-a-year job at UDC a year ago. Ain't it nice to have friends in high places? Posted by: Dar 2003-07-18 |
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