The California state government salary for an elected official who serves as an executive may not match the take-home pay for a Silicon Valley C-suiter — but it ain’t hay.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, for instance, pulls down over $210,00 a year for running his department in Sacramento. It’s important work. He’s well-compensated for it. But it’s apparently not enough.
“Thurmond has regularly taken side jobs running Bay Area nonprofits during his tenure as California’s elected schools chief, earning tens of thousands of dollars to supplement his income, financial disclosures show,” CalMatters reported earlier this month.
Really?
His job doesn’t require a full-time effort? He has time for … other jobs?
It’s an outrage, really, and raises real questions — more questions — about the longtime state politician who has recently announced that he’s in the running to become governor of California.
If Thurmond were elected governor, would he still feel the need for a side hustle or two? Because the holder of that top job is paid only $242,000 annually, and while that may sound like a pretty penny to most Californians, most Californians aren’t, well, politicians.
No other statewide officeholder reports working other jobs to help make ends meet.
While it is true that others may have other resources — inherited family money, or money saved from working in the private sector in a prior life — no one is forcing anyone to run for or serve in state office.
The free market is wide open for Californians to take whatever job they are qualified for and can get hired into. Plenty of attorneys, tech bros and entrepreneurs in our state make millions of dollars a year. If Thurmond wants to get rich rather than just be adequately compensated for his work, then he ought to go try his luck in Menlo Park or Century City.
Instead, since he was first elected to the Assembly 11 years ago — salary at the time, $97,000, plus a healthy per diem — Thurmond has continued to hold down other jobs in the nonprofit sector. Most recently he has worked as director of the Berkeley Food Pantry, for which he earned between $10,001 and $100,000 last year, according to his statement of economic interests, CalMatters reports.
Here’s how Thurmond justifies his moonlighting: “I have needs that are beyond what the salary is able to provide,” he said. “Even as anelected official with a good job, I have needs. I have two children I’m responsible for, including paying for their education and housing costs.”
We’re not unsympathetic to the plight of a parent trying to pay the high cost of schooling and housing for their children in California. The prices are outrageous. But government work may not be the right choice for such a parent trying to do the very best by their offspring.
And there’s more: “And on at least two occasions, Thurmond solicited a major contribution for a nonprofit that was paying him from a person or company with business before the state — including once last year using a connection that he made through the superintendent of public instruction’s office,” CalMatters reports.
To which Thurmond responds: “There’s no conflict there. I’m not getting any personal benefit or political benefit. I fail to see what conflict of interest there could be.”
Since his government salary is not enough to meet his family’s needs, Thurmond should seek work elsewhere. But he can’t continue to hold down other jobs while serving in a supposedly full-time role in Sacramento. Especially as he begins his run for governor, Thurmond has some choices to make — now.
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