Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. I thought of my favorite superhero when I read the qualifications required of the ideal candidate for a position recently posted on the Internet.
The successful applicant, according to the job description, must be a “proactive visible leader, with a collaborative, engaging management style,” and should have “the right blend of skills to navigate these challenging times and build a bridge to the future.” He/she must have “highly developed communication skills, effective interpersonal skills balanced by a sense of humor,” and the ability to be “politically astute, but apolitical.”
The list of required personal traits included a high level of energy, physical stamina, innovative thinking, improvisation and personal courage.
What more could you want from someone in a leadership position? And what was the job requiring this extraordinary combination of personal qualities and skills? It’s what Carlsbad is looking for in the city’s next chief of police.
And why would the Village by the Sea need a top cop of such sterling character? Because, as a member of the city’s leadership team, that individual will make decisions affecting the daily safety, health and well-being of its 100,000 residents.
The new chief’s salary will range from $124,300 to $180,300, depending on qualifications and experience. Benefits will include medical and dental insurance and a retirement plan that amounts to 3 percent of the chief’s highest salary times the number of years they’ve been employed in the position.
Which brings me to the point of today’s rant: It’s been popular sport lately to bash public employees for their “high salaries” and “overly generous pension plans.” But let’s take a closer look.
Dick Bove, a financial strategist for Rochdale Securities, recently complained that the average pay for a basketball player in the NBA is $5 million a year, while the average Goldman Sachs employee (including secretaries) earns a modest $800,000 (“Bove’s Latest Analysis Suggests Wall Street Pay Will Skyrocket,” Clusterstock, Sept. 18, 2009).
Professional athletes and investment bankers are paid by taxpayers, too. But those taxes are called ticket prices, banking fees and credit card interest rates. Nobody complained about Wall Street bonuses until government bailouts.
And fans don’t seem to blink an eye at the high price of watching multimillionaires exchanging slam dunks.
As for public employee pensions, here are a couple of facts from the California Public Employees Retirement System:
1. the average CalPERS pension is about $2,100 a month, with half of all retirees receiving less than $1,400, and half of school pensioners less than $1,100.
2. Only 1 percent of the nearly half million retirees receive annual pensions of $100,000 or more, many of whom worked for 30 years or more and served in high-level management positions.
When you consider the qualifications and job duties required of Carlsbad’s police chief, compared to what we pay professional athletes and investment bankers to entertain us and enrich themselves, I’d say the city’s new public employee superhero will be grossly underpaid.
Richard J. Riehl writes from Carlsbad. Contact him at RiehlWorld2@yahoo.com
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