THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605170040
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Wells did not know, and his reaction reflected his surprise. ``I was hurt and shocked,'' he said. A few weeks later, at age 51, he was also unemployed. Four years shy of retirement, he had fallen victim to Gov. George Allen's promise to downsize government. He no longer qualified for full pension benefits. There was no severence pay.
Wells, now a private consultant, was less shocked when he heard recently that his old job is being taken out of mothballs - by the same administration that abolished it. The name of his successor, Sandy Liddy Bourne, produced only a cynical chuckle.
Bourne holds a master's degree in nursing, an officer's commission in the Army reserves, and two years' service in an elected, unpaid position on the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District board. But downstate, the Fairfax County resident is known for two things: a failed GOP bid for the House of Delegates last fall and her maiden name. Bourne's father is radio-talk-show celebrity G. Gordon Liddy, also of Watergate fame.
If Gov. George Allen's current trade trip to the Far East shows what's right about his administration, the Wells-Bourne episode tells in a nutshell what's wrong.
Pre-Allen, the deputy position in a 300-employee department that oversees state parks and the conservation of Virginia natural resources was filled by a well-regarded, career civil servant. Wells is trained as an agricultural engineer. Reinvented, the job is going to a bona fide conservative whose professional resume is, to be kind, a less-than-obvious fit.
Bourne was the only candidate interviewed for the job.
Worse, the hiring comes in a Natural Resources secretariat where staff morale is already low, turnover high, and charges of political cronyism rife.
Inquiries about the decision are being forwarded from the office of Natural Resources Secretary Becky Norton Dunlop to that of Kathleen Lawrence, the department's newly appointed director. Lawrence, who was not involved in Bourne's hiring to the $50,000 post, says it was the General Assembly, not Allen, who recreated the deputy director's job.
In fact, however, the Assembly only specified that one of two ``political'' appointees in any agency could be the deputy director. They did not order deputy-director jobs to be created where none existed.
Lawrence offers this rationale for Bourne's hiring: She is a skilled manager, and her experience on the local soil and water board makes her a natural to coordinate an expanding role for district staffs across the state.
But Bourne's interest in the environment does not appear to be particularly deep or of long standing. She sought the soil-and-water-board post in 1993 because of an annoying mound of construction dirt left near her home. Nor does service on the board, whose projects include rewarding science-fair winners and teaching homeowners how to properly dispose of car oil, necessarily qualify one to set conservation policy for a state.
More likely, Bourne's hiring is the latest bit of one-upmanship in an ongoing struggle between the Allen administration and the General Assembly over environmental policy. Last winter, Assembly Democrats skuttled Dunlop's plans to dismember the conservation department. Over Allen's objections, they insisted on allocating $280,000 for the department to develop a tributary strategy for the Chesapeake Bay.
Dunlop had to swallow those pills, but it is loyal allies such as Bourne who will help her deal with the directives.
``Nurses are the best people to build a team and move it forward,'' said Bourne, citing what she sees as her chief qualification.
To my mind, a skilled manager with proven technical expertise would be far superior. It's outrageous that none was sought. It's not as if none exist. At least one lives on Dunwoody Road in Mechanicsville. His name is Don Wells. MEMO: Ms. Edds is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot.
by CNB