Dooley: What's not to smile about when you can hire all your friends to great jobs that cost you nothing?
Last month Hampel revealed how Dooley's former campaign spokeswoman, Katy Jamboretz, land an $88,000 job as spokeswoman for the St. Louis County Economic Council. The position was never advertised. Jamboretz won the job when the former spokeswoman, Nancy Schnoebelen, mysteriously resigned from the post.
Now Hampel reports that Schnoebelen was given an unusually large severance package to walk away from the job. Customarily, those who leave office in the county are given one week's worth of pay as severance for each year they're employed. Schnoebelen worked just four years for the economic council, yet she was given a payout of six month's salary and benefits that added up to $50,000.
An email to Schnoebelen from her former boss Dennis Coleman (who serves at the pleasure of Dooley) stated that he hoped the generous severance would help her resolve her resignation "amicably." Don't know about you, but to us that sounds like hush money. Hush money paid for by taxpayers, we might add.
Turns out, though, that Jamboretz isn't the only person with close ties to Dooley to get a fat job within county government in recent months. In March Hampel also reported how Dooley awarded John Temporiti, the son of his campaign director, a $70,000 position. Like the Jamboretz position, Temporiti's job was never advertised. Moreover, it seemed to be made just for Temporiti and came amid what is supposed to be a three-year hiring freeze in county government.
And the patronage hires don't end there. As Hampel writes today, those are just the most egregious.
