— Opinion...
Big paycheck kills Caltrain tax idea
Voters will say, ‘If Caltrain can afford a high
salary like that, they don’t need my money’
‘Any chanee of passing atx to im-
prove Caltrain service s now dead,
It died when the unclected board
the San Mateo County Transit District
last week hired former Redwood City
‘mayor and California High-Speed Rail
‘Authority vice chairman Jim Hartnett
as its general manager and CEO. In
that position, Harnett wil head the
‘Samifrans bus agency and Caltrain,
“The transit board
killed any hope of pass
ing such a tax when it
decided to pay Hartt
a staggering $434,661 a
yea That’ more than
{wice the $165,288 Gov.
Jerry Brown is pai.
‘And Hartnett will make
$34,661 more than Presi-
sent Obama, though
the president gets to use a petty nice
private jet
‘fa Caltrain tax ever hits the ballot,
and there are plan for one in 2016,
‘ters are gong to Fook at Hartnets
‘compensation and say, "If Caltrain
can afford ahigh salary lke that, they
ont need my money.”
“Any. government agency seeking
fa tax has to make the argument that
they've been spending the public's dol-
lars frugally. Hartnets salary makes a
mockery ofthat concep.
‘An clection issue
won't take much effort by op-
ponents of a Caltrain tx to make
Harint' salary the central isue in
the campaign. And since taxes need a
two-thirds approval, it won't take many
people upset over the $434.66 salary
to defeat a Caltain ex,
Hlartnet’s salary is even higher than
the $419492 his predecessor, Mike
‘Scanlon, was geting.
‘Scanion’s high salary
has been a constant,
source of controversy for
years,
In 2011, the Post
{vestigated how his pay
‘SCANLON goto high, but couldn't
finda paper tail show
ing how he got his raises. The only
entity allowed to raise Scanlon’ salary
‘was the board of directors, but we
checked its agendas going back several
‘rare and comida’ find anvthing that
said they were going to discuss Scan-
Joa's “pay” *salary” or compensation’
before he would mysteriously get a pay
raise. The state Taw regulating public
‘meetings requires agencies such as the
transit district to put out in
advance of the meeting listing what
items will be discussed. It became
clear to us thatthe rant district
‘ignored that lw when it continually
raised Scanlon’ pay.
Why doos he nood a froe ear?
One ofthe ironies in Hartnets
contract is that he's getting ac
Seanlon did. The contract says
is tied to a “vehicle
suitable in performance
and with equipment
Why does guy who
heads a bus agency need
acar?arent he peop wagmNeTT
in these transit agencies
always telling the rest of us that we
should abandon our cars and take mass
transi? Why can't Harnett take the
‘bus ois work appointmens?
‘With Scanlon leaving, you'd think
this would be # time when sensible
‘members of the transit district board
‘would argue thatthe new CEO should
be paid a more reasonable amount, per-
‘haps inthe $200,000 range that most
city managers onthe Peninsula are
‘now getting.
1's worth noting thatthe Metrolink
in Southern California last week also
hired a CEO for $330,000 a year pls
benefits. I's not exactly an apples to
apples comparison since Metrolink
est include a bus agency, but ts
‘il network is about 10 Gines larg
certhan Caltrain, The guy they hired
‘began his career as a bus driver and
_moved up over the years to head threo
‘tansportation agencies before geting
‘the Metrolink gig — exactly what
Hartnett didnt do.
Qualifications?
All ofthis raises another question:
‘what qualifies Hartnett for tis job? He
was former Redwood City councl-
rman and mayor. In that capacity, he
landed a spot on the Caltrain boar.
He's an attorney ina smal fim. And
he was appointed to the state igh
speed rail board, and became the
board's vice chairman,
T would have expected the board to
have picked a transportation profes-
‘Sonal with some academic degrees
and provea success running a tran-
sitagency. Somebody who came up
through the ranks and learned the
‘operations side of the business
Hartnett doesn't possess those skills
The only management experience [can
see on his resume is his role as pure
‘erin small lw firm, T see nothing
that equips him to manage three agen
ies that have budgets exceeding $500
tilion, capital projects of over $7
billion and more than 1,500 full-time,
parttime and contracted employees.
fromthe hoard to CEO
Docs acrce Oe Calan and
Si bee proar im oth
yeu emchent of te greene
Soar rund Here er re
‘managed by a hired executive (the
Sag ey CRD, cy cages
teadene). Bocach esing he
toardembor gt func of eps
terra and testis wets ace
therecommeniatns of tr eee
tre Ocenia toad
senbesvase tir (lia)
ands and ask questions,
Beton they foo
trace coe a
eda
Tih re C
sguitem fierce
between being onthe FOUST
teord of an oganiation and actly
nig ta enti
"he Rotwod Cry Cone of
wih arte was member or 15
Joab wtsou fx obotcaly
(Grint cecton fey sage
ri itor wo dsen At end
SF 200 re ary ooking ck
Stages’ wor of oun vt and
nly ence ei coon meres ave a
Soitvore
Interestingly, when Hartnett was on
dating fellow council member Rosanne
Foust. They tried to keep the relation.
ship quiet at fis, but word go out.
‘They later married,
Ironically, Foust is a member ofthe
board ofthe San Mateo County Transit
Autor, which hands ow wanspor
ion sles tax dollars. The author
is excaive willbe her husband,
Hertnett 2s part of his new job. She's
expected to resign duc tothe conflict
of interest
Insular San Matoo County politics
artnet's appointment also ils
trates the insula nature of San Mateo
County politics, where new blood
almost never enters the system and
insiders move from job to job with no
For example:
* former sheriff Don Horsey retires
and moves tothe Sequoia Health Care
District Board and then tothe county
Board of Supervisors.
* Warren Slocum steps down as
clerklasessoreecoeder and chief
lections oficial to become a county
Supervisor, and like tag tear, super
visor Mark Church becomes clerkas-
‘essorrecorder and elections chi,
* John Malthe retires as county
‘manager andthe board of supervisors
replace him with former Menlo Park
Cty Manager David Boesch. Boesch
gets frustrated dealing witha board
that won't stick to its budget, and he
quis. Who do the supervisors bring
‘back? Matic.
'So of course the transit district
board, which is made up of officials
from various cities, isnt going to pick
‘an outsider to replace Scanlon. They
{doa nationwide search, which makes
‘i lok like they're trying to improve
things. But hiring an insider i simply
‘the way things are done in San Mateo
Cour
Tes time to damp the idea of an ap-
pointed (and therefore unaccountable)
‘oat forthe transit district and start
clecting board members ike BART
tnd the Golden Gate Bridge Distt
have done for years
Edltor Dave Price's column appears
‘every Monday. His email address is
price@padailypost.com.