New hires not good use of tax dollars

By James Waller, North Las Vegas

Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2015 | 2 a.m.

The recent editorial in the Las Vegas Sun questioning the process by which the termed-out Nevada attorney general was named the second in command of the Nevada System of Higher Education only touched the tip of the iceberg. The position should have been advertised in higher education publications to create a pool of well-qualified candidates. That wasn’t done. The chancellor of the NSHE simply hired a fellow state employee to take the job at a salary of at least $215,000. She is a lawyer and a member of the Nevada bar. However, she has no experience in higher education. In other words, she will be an on-the-job trainee.

The education follies began with the selection of a “crackerjack” fundraiser to be president of UNLV after a nationwide search. The problem is his lack of experience at the executive level in higher education. He will be paid over $560,000 per year to learn to run a university and nascent medical school.

The follies continued with the hiring of a high school football coach to head the Division I program at UNLV at a salary of $500,000 per year plus incentives. He has no experience in coaching college football.

While the leaders of the cap-and-gown crowd played Santa with taxpayers’ dollars, Nevada announced a projected budget shortfall of at least $100 million. These hires total over $1.3 million in salary and benefits per year, an extremely high price for hires who will have to learn their new jobs.