Although there has been an abundance of media attention to the annual salary of House Speaker Glen Casada’s now-former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren, there has been little focus on the salaries paid to Lt. Governor Randy McNally’s top staffers. Scott Gilmer, who was serving as Casada’s Director of Operations and who was promoted to Chief of Staff when Cothren resigned, sent an email to House Members earlier this week detailing the comparative salaries of top staff in each body of the Legislature.
Gilmer, who was receiving a $195,000 annual salary as Director of Operations prior to succeeding Cothren, previously served as Chief of Staff for House Speaker Beth Harwell before she chose to seek the Governor’s Office and left the Speakership.
He advised the House Members:
Members,
As part of the efforts of the Speaker’s office to be transparent in our hiring and operational efforts, it is important for you to see the salaries paid to the General Assembly’s executive team, and specifically to that of the former Chief of Staff, in relation to their counterparts in the Senate.
For your information, here are the salaries paid to the highest ranking staff in each chamber:
Senate Clerk–$204,240
Senate Chief of Staff–$201,336
Former House Chief of Staff (also served as press secretary for the Speaker)–$199,800
House Clerk–$160,740
The responsibilities between positions may be differently related to the vast differences in the numbers of members between the two chambers.
As part of the Action Plan, compensation and compensation policies will be reviewed. If you have any questions or need more information, please let me know.
Scott
One Legislator noted to The Tennessee Star that the House has 99 Members compared to the 33 in the State Senate, and that there are obviously more Committees and Sub-Committees for the House Speaker to manage than the number in the Senate. It was also pointed out that the House Speaker’s office has 8 staffers compared to six employed by the Lt. Governor.
Cothren will reportedly continue to be paid his salary until July 5 thanks to his 300 hours of accumulated vacation days.
We have an unelected and totally unaccountable group that is firmly in control of these obscenities, the Office of Legislative Administration and its Director. They appear to rubber stamp anything that legislators want.