Steelman report: Are employees working for free?
There’s an interesting oddity in Treasurer Sarah Steelman’s April filing with the Missouri Ethics Commission in her campaign for the Republican nomination for governor. Other than paying consultant Jeff Roe’s firm, she doesn’t pay for any employees.
Early in the campaign, Steelman made a splash by announcing the hiring of a couple of Washington D.C. heavy hitters. But the campaign hasn’t paid either of them any money. Steelman spokesman Doug Gaston says that’s because they haven’t submitted any invoices. He says the consultants aren’t on retainer.
But the case of Gaston is more interesting. He’s been working with the campaign full-time, but according to state records he’s still earning his full salary with the state as deputy treasurer. In fact, he just got paid this week. Gaston says that’s because he has earned about six weeks vacation time from his state job and he’s been taking vacation to work on the campaign.
But the campaign hasn’t paid him. So is he volunteering? No, Gaston says. He says he expects to be paid soon. “I had saved up about six weeks of vacation,” he says. “It’s my poor man’s way of contributing.”
Later this week, Gaston says, he will run out of vacation time, and will be taking a leave from the treasurer’s office and work for the Steelman campaign full-time. But he says he still expects to do some work for the state, on a volunteer basis.
Gaston says there are some duties that require either the treasurer or deputy treasurer to be involved in, such as sitting on various boards. He said he’ll perform those duties and not be paid by the state.
Gaston should make a clean break. It’s wrong for him to be doing either state work on the campaign’s dime or vice versa. This is exactly the kind of stuff that makes so many voters hate politics.