$130 thousand dollars a year is little more than a drop in the bucket

Pamela Martin (L) & Premier Christy Clark (R)

Premier Christy Clark raised a few eyebrows in June when she hired former CTV news anchor Pamela Martin to a $130,000 a year job as director of outreach in the premier’s office.  Since then, many people have wondered what she and the of 16 people in her office actually do

Well the Vancouver Province asked the following question a few weeks ago, “And what does Pamela Martin really do anyway? You might as well ask how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.”

The Victoria Times Colonist was however able to get some information … what do you think of the things the Premier has had keeping her busy?

Her calendar says she had work-related events on 25 days between June 25 and July 28. Some included weekends and night events – such as acting as master of ceremonies at a “Persian Community event” on July 15 or attending the Canada Cup closing ceremonies -  others included just a couple of hours in the office.

She spent the bulk of her time in briefings and meetings with premier office staff, but accompanied Clark on trips to Smithers, Terrace and Nanaimo. She also met with representatives from the United Way of the Lower Mainland, the B.C. Special Olympics, the Aboriginal Mothers Centre, and the Kelty Patrick Foundation which works to prevent depression-related suicides in youth.

Martin’s official agenda set aside 16 hours for calls and emails, eight of which were specifically for correspondence.

Hmmmm … that doesn’t seem like an awful lot to be getting paid $130 thousand dollars a year for … which by the way works out to $520 PER DAY based on 5 days a week for 50 weeks of the year (which we all know she won’t be working).

Well maybe the Times Colonist just wasn’t able to get all the information about what she does??  What did Michael Smyth at the Vancouver Province find out??

“Martin has so far spent most of her time in staff meetings, accompanied Clark on three out-of-town trips, met with four community groups and sent nine emails to citizens.  I (story writer Michael Smyth) asked for an interview with Martin, whose official job description includes "removing communications barriers" with the public, but was told she doesn't talk to the media.  Must be that "restraint" thing.

Okay … still doing my Google Search for the phrase, “What does Pamela Martin do”.  Here’s something in the Examiner.com; “It's an old story: handing out jobs to friends with more value as tokens of appreciation than anything else. But it's disappointing to see the relatively fresh-faced Clark Administration falling into the same old routine with so little apparent hesitation.”

Maybe the Vancouver Forum … let’s check that out … no, that doesn’t sound promising either:

Postby richie » 15 Sep 2011, 11:07

in her new 130k a year job as 'director of outreach' in christy clarks office? so far she has accompanied clark on three out of town trips, met with four community groups and *gasp* sent nine, that's right nine! emails to concerned citizens! to lighten pamelas crushing work load, christy has hired her an assistant! part of pamelas job description is 'removing communication barriers with the public' to this end she has steadfastly refused all interviews with the media! this after being a news anchor for how many years.

Maybe the most telling reason why it is hard to find out exactly what Pamela Martin is doing for Christy Clark, goes back to the initial announcement of her hiring.  And what section of the Vancouver Sun was this story posted you ask???  Why the ENTERTAINMENT section of course!  “Premier Clark hires Pamela Martin for $130,000 outreach job”

A job description for the role says Martin will develop Clark's "vision of creating open government by reaching out to British Columbians."

It also says Martin will "improve public awareness and engagement and ensure communication is a two-way conversation," and that she will "help the public's concerns be translated into action by sharing with the Premier the challenge British Columbians face navigating government."

Martin will also be expected to coordinate events that will make government more accessible, such as town hall meetings for Clark.

I don’t know about you, but getting paid $130 thousand dollars a year, for a job where nobody knows what she does, is not entertaining to me.

YES I know … $130 thousand dollars a year is little more than a drop in the bucket against the entire budget of the BC government … but think of it this way.  How many more Pamela Martins are on the government payroll … how many upper management people, does the government have hired, that are making $100 thousand a year??? 

In fact there are a total of 759 B.C. public servants make more than $200,000 a year, according to an exclusive database of government pay compiled by The Vancouver Sun.   Should we have to put through a Freedom of Information Request to find out what these people are being paid to do – as had to happen with regards to Pamela Martin? 

A government of BC website called A Guide to the BC Economy and Labour Market has the following information available … British Columbia workers earned an average wage of $21.46 per hour in 2008. At that time, those working in the goods industries earned an average hourly wage of $22.92. The typical wage in service industries was $1.83 less, at $21.09 per hour.

And a BC Stats document from September 2011 shows the ‘average’ BC salary is $830 / week which would work out to just over $43 thousand a year.  That’s a long ways off of the $130 thousand a year being made by Pamela Martin … 3 times the average salary. 

And what about the other 759, employed by the BC government, that are making at least four and a half times the salary of the average British Columbian??  Those six figure salaries are a long ways from what many in BC make. 

Here’s just a few examples to consider … the average teacher makes $60 thousand a year … a First Year Level One Nurse makes $27.85 an hour … an RCMP officer makes $67,813 after 1 year … and a firefighter in Richmond makes $61,164 after 1 year. 

The minimum wage in BC is $10 / hour.  IF you were lucky enough to be scheduled for 40 hours a week, for 50 weeks a year, you would earn $20,000 (before taxes).  That’s 15.4% of what Pamela Martin makes -- and compared to one of those folks making at least $200 thousand on the government payroll, they make at least 10 times more than you.

As I said, $130 thousand dollars a year, against the entire budget of the BC government, is little more than a drop in the bucket.  It is however a matter of government accountability --- and it is also a matter of prudent management of taxpayer resources that comes in to question when we look at this.

I’m Alan Forseth in Kamloops; with the thoughts of one conservative on this round ball we call planet earth.