Savage handed political worker a job

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Lamendola

Susan Savage, the former chairwoman of the Schenectady County Legislature, appointed one of her former campaign workers, a Montgomery County resident, to a $43,000-a-year job with county government before resigning to take a state job.

The action was immediately attacked by the Republican minority on the Legislature as a patronage favor.

Savage appointed Kelly Quist to the non-Civil Service position of director of legislative operations in the Office of the Clerk of the Legislature. The director is one of several positions the chair can fill without authorization from the county Legislature.

Savage’s appointment of Quist, who lives in Amsterdam, also avoids the requirement that county employees live within Schenectady County. The residency rule, established in 2000, applies only to positions or appointments by the county manager.

Quist’s hiring occurred during a hiring freeze within the county, but the freeze does not apply to “essential personnel,” said Joe McQueen, director of communications for the county. The director of legislative operations is considered an essential position because the Office of the Clerk of the Legislature must remain staffed during regular working hours, McQueen said.

The office consists of Clerk Geoffrey Hall, who works full time and is paid $82,000; the director of legislative operations, a full-time position that became vacant in March; and the deputy clerk of the county Legislature, a part-time position that pays $23,000.

GOP CITES PATRONAGE

Quist worked last year on Savage’s failed election bid for state Senate, McQueen said. Savage sought to unseat longtime Sen. Hugh Farley, R-Niskayuna, in the 44th Senate District. Farley received twice as many votes as Savage to win an 18th consecutive two-year term.

Minority Leader Robert Farley, R-Glenville, the senator’s son, disputed that the director of legislative operations is essential, calling it a patronage position. “It is one thing if there is a need for a firefighter or a police officer, but in these economic times we should not support someone in a patronage role,” he said.

Farley was a member of the county Legislature in 1999 when it created the position. “I was the one who advanced creation of the position,” he said. “In doing so, the Legislature then, when the Republicans were in control, eliminated two other positions to create it.”

Farley said the purpose of the job is to serve as an assistant to the clerk of the Legislature. The director of legislative operations drafts legislative initiatives submitted by county legislators, writes and distributes public notices, drafts correspondence to constituents, assists in press releases and press conferences and handles general office duties.

Republicans then appointed David Kenyon to the new position at a salary of $35,499. Kenyon was called up for military service and the position remained vacant for several years. “We did not fill it. It was vacant prior to [David] Fronk’s appointment,” Farley said.

Quist’s resume indicates she was an organizer for state-level legislative races for four months in 2010 and that she taught elementary school in Niskayuna, Delmar, Bethlehem and in Pennsylvania.

Farley said Fronk, who held the position prior to Quist’s appointment, worked as a “political operative” for the Democrat-controlled Legislature. Fronk, a Democrat, carried petitions for party candidates and was observed on several occasions working on Savage’s Senate campaign.

McQueen said Fronk was hired on the basis of his resume; he was a teaching assistant while at Rockefeller College. “He came in with an interest in government to work in government,” McQueen said.

In addition to creating the director of legislative operations, Farley also created counsel to the Legislature. At the time he appointed Michael Mansion to fill the part-time, $34,499 job. The Legislature amended the County Charter to allow the creation of the position. Democrats, in the minority at the time, claimed the positions were for patronage appointments.

Fronk is now assistant director of purchasing for Schenectady County, a position he assumed in March when it opened up through a retirement. He is being paid $51,000 a year.

McQueen said Fronk is serving provisionally in the Civil Service position. The state will hold a test for the job classification next year, and Fronk has to score in the top three to keep his position. The job was not posted prior to Fronk’s taking it. McQueen said the position will be posted on the county’s website shortly.

McQueen said the assistant director of purchasing is an essential position within county government.

Savage, a Democrat who represented Niskayuna and Glenville on the county Legislature, resigned April 17, after 12 years in office, to take a job as assistant deputy commissioner for the state Office of Real Property Services.