Ohio state Treasurer and GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel gave higher raises to staffers brought on from his 2010 campaign than to staffers he inherited from his predecessor, according to the Toledo Blade. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign crunched the numbers — which were confirmed by the Blade — and found that Mandel appointees got raises ranging from $250 to $1,153 while holdover staff raises ranged from $147 to $441.
From the Blade:
The biggest dollar-amount raise went to Mr. Mandel’s general counsel, Seth Metcalf. His salary zoomed to $5,961 per two-week pay period from $4,808, a 24 percent increase, after he joined the staff in January 2011. According to Seth Unger, press secretary for Mr. Mandel, Mr. Metcalf also took on the job of chief financial officer, eliminating a position and saving $45,000 a year.
Unger continued to defend Mandel’s hiring practices as cost-savings measures rather than examples of favoritism.
“The treasurer’s office has consolidated and streamlined departments and staff in order to increase efficiency and save hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars,” Mr. Unger said.
A previous report raised questions about cronyism under Mandel for hiring young, relatively inexperienced campaign staffers at the Ohio state treasury.
Mandel is challenging Brown for his Senate seat. The Brown campaign has painted Mandel as someone who uses political office to hand out favors to his friends while shirking the responsibilities of the office of the treasurer.
