Monday, November 23, 2009

Mayor's Chief Of Staff Resigns To Go To Work For City Contractor

More on "Pay to Play is the Ballard Way." Mayor Greg Ballard's Chief of Staff Paul Okeson has announced his resignation to take a job with Keystone Construction, another major city contractor that has contributed large sums to Ballard's campaign committee. Okeson told WTHR he couldn't afford to raise a family on the lowly pay of a Chief of Staff. Before joining the Ballard administration, Okeson worked as a government relations consultant for Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates, another major city contractor. Okeson will be replaced by Corporation Counsel Chris Cotterill. Coincidentally, Ersal Ozdemir of Keystone Construction accompanied Mayor Ballard on his junket to Europe this past week. I'm sure there's no connection between Okeson's new job, city contracts and political contributions. The Mayor's office expects to make more staff change announcements at a press conference tomorrow. Six new appointments to the Capital Improvement Board are expected to be made.

5 comments:

dcrutch said...

If you want somebody who'll put issues before party, taxpayers before government, I recommend Melyssa for CIB appointee.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Gary, I think we need to stay by the phone tomorrow in case we get a call about a CIB appointment. You know Ballard is looking for someone on there that will ask the tough questions.

FYI, if it wasn't obvious, that was sarcasm.

Sir Hailstone said...

Isn't the Mayor's CoS pulling down about $90K per year? Most of us realize that many Indy residents raise families on 1/4 of that.

I'm all for pursuing opportunities when they arise but to claim he can't make ends meet on what would be double what most middle class citizens make in a year burns my Pillsbury cookies.

Downtown Indy said...

And today the Star says Okeson is getting a seat on the CIB!!!

Kat's Closet said...

Mr. Okeson's statement that he can't raise a family on his salary is inaccurate - he can't afford to pay for his own poor decisions. Pay to play is the least of this man's moral challenges.