The State of Illinois, strapped for cash, is laying off employees left and right and cutting budgets all over the place. But the continuing saga of David Coldren shows that some old habits in government die very, very hard.
Coldren was executive director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority until his penchant for flying first class at taxpayer expense surfaced in the media last February and embarrassed Gov. Jim Edgar.
State rules mandate that employees` official travel be done by ”the least costly available alternative,” but Coldren told legislators that cheaper, coach-class seats were just too small for his large body. Taxpayers found his appetite for cushy treatment at their expense a bit too big to bear.
In exchange for taking off, the unrepentant Coldren wangled himself a first-class parachute: a six-month ”transition” contract for $40,000-a payment rate higher than his $75,744 working salary had been.
Embarrassed again, Edgar says he`s unhappy about the contract but can`t do anything about it because he has no direct control over the agency-although the governor chooses its chairman, its executive director and a majority of its governing board.
Aides to the governor say the administration feared Coldren might sue if he were formally fired, with attendant legal fees that would have exceeded the $40,000 cost of the buyout. But as state Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch said in criticizing the deal, its cost and terms are ”at the very least . . . very questionable.”
Neither this contract nor the inflated billings for Coldren`s business travel represent the worst waste or abuse that can be found in state government. But it indicates that at least some of the bureaucracy still hasn`t gotten the message that times are tough, taxpayers aren`t willing to pay for luxuries and the comfy old modus operandi can no longer be tolerated. Back among the working stiffs, a tightened budget has just forced the layoffs of several employees of the criminal justice authority, which analyzes crime trends and awards grants to law-enforcement agencies. Child-welfare employees are being cut. State aid for Chicago schoolchildren has been reduced. Hospitals and doctors are going unpaid.
The least the administration can do now, belatedly, is seek repayment from Coldren for the airfare overbilling. He can`t say he doesn`t have the money to pay for it.
