Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994 TAG: 9406010075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
Allen has used the first of 1,800 appointments he will make this year to purge state boards and commissions of people appointed by his Democratic predecessor, Douglas Wilder.
The new governor also has dumped the heads of many state agencies and replaced them with political supporters and like-minded conservatives.
"He truly wants to shake up government," said Betsy Davis Beamer, Allen's secretary of the commonwealth, who has helped direct administration appointments.
The shake-up, however, is far from complete.
Four out of every 10 agency head positions remain unfilled, including the top posts at the Department of Environmental Quality, the Health Department and the Department of Social Services.
The appointment process is slower than in the past two Democratic administrations, when many agency heads simply were reconfirmed. Allen not only is seeking wholesale change, but he and his chief of staff, Jay Timmons, also insist on reviewing every application for top-level jobs.
"He wants to see them all," Beamer said. "That is why it takes so much time."
The Allen appointments have produced some mild grousing among Democrats, who lost the prerogatives they had enjoyed since Charles Robb's inauguration as governor in 1982.
While they acknowledge Allen's right to install his own people in the upper reaches of state government, Democrats note some curious trends in the Allen appointments.
Allen, who has called the federal government the "beast of tyranny," has given three Cabinet posts and a half-dozen agency head positions to one-time Reagan and Bush administration officials.
"For someone who ran against government, it appears to me that they have a lot of refugees from Washington," said Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum, D-Roanoke.
"Someone quipped that there haven't been so many Yankees in Richmond since 1865," said Gail Nardi, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party.
Allen supporters say it is natural that Republicans, who have been out of power in Richmond for more than a decade, would look for conservatives who got their seasoning in the Reagan-Bush administrations.
Allen spokesman Ken Stroupe said the number of former Reagan-Bush officials represents only a small fraction of the hundreds of appointments the governor has made to boards and agencies.
Democrats also say Allen's appointments have put a twist on his support of "family values," noting that he has doled out high-paying jobs to spouses and family members of top-ranked officials and, in at least one case, the wife of a Republican state legislator.
"We used to call it nepotism," Woodrum said. "If they are downsizing state government, they certainly are going about it in an odd way."
The family ties among employees in the Allen administration, and their salaries, include:
Kay Coles James, secretary of health and human resources, $99,566; her husband, Charles E. James, director of the Personnel and Training Department, $78,829.
Beamer, secretary of the commonwealth, $73,023; her husband, Jim Beamer, legislative liaison to Allen, $48,000.
Beverly Sgro, secretary of education, $99,566; her son, Anthony Sgro, policy adviser to Allen, $34,500.
Paddy Katzen, wife of Del. Jay Katzen, R-Warrenton, recycling coordinator, $30,000.
Stroupe, the governor's spokesman, said all of those people were hired because of their qualifications, not because of family ties.
"It was never like, 'If I'm coming, you have to bring my husband too,''' said Betsy Beamer, who raised campaign funds for Allen. "They are all very qualified experts in their fields."
Members of the Allen administration say they are satisfied with the pace of agency appointments, despite the fact that employees in 28 agencies have endured five months of uncertainty about future leadership.
None of the seven governor-appointed department heads under Secretary of Natural Resources Becky Norton Dunlop has been named.
Dunlop said she has completed all of the interviews and has made some recommendations to the governor's office.
Natural resources is expected to be one of the most controversial areas during Allen's four-year tenure. The Republican campaigned on the promise to eliminate many state regulations not required by the federal government.
Environmental groups have focused speculation on Richard N. Burton, a career state employee who headed the Department of Environmental Quality.
Dunlop said Burton has reapplied for his job, but that dozens of other "quality people" from outside state government have applied as well. She said the governor should have an announcement about the Department of Environmental Quality job in the next two or three weeks.
"I think the people in DEQ are anxious to hear from us about a more specific direction," she said.
by CNB