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New Hires at Texas Agency Receive Speedy Promotions, Raises

Several new hires at the Texas Department of Agriculture with close ties to an assistant commissioner received speedy promotions and raises despite their short time with the agency, according to a newspaper's review of state employment records.

The review shows a half-dozen workers followed Terry Keel earlier this year when he moved from the position of executive director of the Texas Facilities Commission to assistant agriculture commissioner, according to the Austin American-Statesman. Some of the jobs were publicly listed for only three days before being filled.

Two of Keel's former colleagues at the Facilities Commission earned double-digit percentage salary increases within weeks of moving to the Agriculture Department.

Of all the agency's new hires, the only ones to receive raises as of June were those with ties to Keel.

A department spokesman says the hirings met state and federal guidelines.

"Each of the individuals was hired based upon merit and their abilities to perform job duties," Agriculture Department spokesman Bryan Black told the American-Statesman.

Black said the new employees' salaries fall within their proper classification ranges, and that their pay raises were the result of agency reorganizations that broadened their responsibilities.

Filling government jobs with friends and supporters isn't unusual. There's an informal tradition of new administrations posting job vacancies and then quickly filling them with employees who have close connections to the new leader.

Keel himself filled one of four assistant commissioner positions newly created by Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. Each position pays $180,000.

Keel has had a long career in state and Travis County politics. He worked as an assistant prosecutor in the Travis County district attorney's office before being elected Travis County sheriff, a post he held from 1992 to 1997. He was a state legislator for 10 years before later serving for five years as executive director of the Facilities Commission. The commission is charged with overseeing the state government's physical plants.

He doesn't dispute that he brought colleagues with him to the Agriculture Department. "Per Commissioner Miller's direction, I did my best to encourage the best and brightest talent to fill the agency's needs, and I knew these hires particularly fit that category," he said.

But the hirings follow a pattern of controversial personnel decisions Miller has made in his short tenure as commissioner, in which he also has hired associates at notably high salaries. The American-Statesman reported earlier this year that Miller, a former state representative and lobbyist, created the four new assistant commissioner positions soon after his election.

Miller said at the time that he hired the best people he could find, but one of the jobs was filled by the wife of a longtime political consultant and business partner. A second assistant commissioner position was filled by another of Miller's political consultants.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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