Thirty-One Economic Development Agency Salaries Top $100K

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 8/5/2010 | Tom Gantert

[MichCapCon]

At a time when the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is saying it is being unfairly criticized, its staffers are among the best paid in the state.

According to information from a Freedom of Information Act request, the MEDC has 31 employees making $100,000 or more. The MEDC has 351 positions.

Greg Main, president and CEO of the MEDC, had the top salary, at $200,000. Debra Dansby, the chief operating officer, had the second-highest salary, at $150,000.

"The MEDC was structured to incorporate the best and brightest from the private sector and the state's most experienced civil servants in order to better serve the business community with employees paid from either state and non-state funds," wrote MEDC Spokeswoman Bridget Beckman in an e-mail.

It hasn't been a banner year for the MEDC. A convicted embezzler was approved for a tax credit and had it revoked once the office learned of his background. RASCO CEO Richard Short was on parole after being convicted and serving two years in prison for financial fraud when his tax credit was approved by the Michigan Economic Growth Authority. Short's company never received any money from the state.

Main offered to resign after the RASCO incident, but Gov. Jennifer Granholm would not accept his resignation.

Then in April, State Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, met with the state Auditor General after a critical audit of the MEDC. McMillin said MEGA may have doled out an estimated $150 million in tax credits erroneously in the last five years due to lack of oversight.

[MichCapCon]

MI ping

[gthog61]

That is your solution MI! Let everyone work for this commission. Have Jeff Daniels do ads for it.

[bigbob]

Key phrase: “Gov. Jennifer Granholm”

Has anyone got good examples of economic development organizations at the state or local level actually doing anything productive? By that I mean generating results that exceed what they pay out in salaries and expenses...?

[quantim]

The who mess just needs to go, it’s only a tool for redistribution of wealth, not a beacon for free-market solution for business and industry.

Wonder what Rick Snyder thinks about this...

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. IN-YOUR-FACE Neo-Fascism.

[PGalt]

Thanks Tom McMillin!

[PGalt]

Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion--when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing--when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors--when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you--when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice--you may know that your society is doomed. - Ayn Rand