Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Hires A "Confidential Assistant" For $72,686/Year

by: countrycat

Mon Jan 07, 2013 at 12:02:21 PM CST

Nice work if you can get it.... Our Ag Commissioner, John McMillan has hired his GOP primary opponent, Dale (don't shoot the horse) Petersen as his "confidential assistant."

Hall said McMillan felt there was a need for someone at the department with a business background. Hall said there has not been a confidential assistant before, and the hiring must be approved by the state Personnel Board at a meeting Jan. 16.

Now, my first thought here was.... "what the heck is a confidential assistant and how do I score a state job making over $70k/year?"  So I checked out the online job site Monster.com and found only 3 listings for "confidential assistants" in the entire US.  And none of the qualifications include "able to embarrass your entire state with stupid political ads."

So what's Peterson going to do - and will the horse be involved somehow?  The AL.com article just gets weirder at the end:

"I told John, 'I'll stoke the furnace and you steer the ship,'" Peterson said. 

Ok then...

It's important to know that this hire comes almost a year after McMillan said his department no longer has the staff necessary to inspect and verify the accuracy of the state's gas pumps and grocery scales:

Stacy Boshell, director of the weights and measures division, said the lack of inspectors now limits it to performing random inspections on only 5 percent to 10 percent of the more than 90,000 fuel pumps in the state each year.

So while merchants may be taking money out of your pocket with inaccurate measures, McMillan is happy to put money in the pockets of his buddy Petersen.

The Alabama Democratic Party's statement on this matter is on the flip.

In the middle of some of the worst economic times this state has ever seen, Republican Ag Commissioner John McMillan, has stooped to a new low by making up "Confidential Assistant" position to be filled by, none other than Mr. Youtube Sensation himself, Dale Peterson.

Apparently, Mr. Peterson is more than willing to join the ranks of individuals he once described as "thugs and criminals." The annual salary of over $70,000, though, likely made the pill needed to jump on the bandwagon pretty easy to swallow.

Folks, we can't sit idly by and watch this type of blatant political posturing by elected officials. I'm sure John McMillan will appreciate Dale's advice as a "Confidential Assistant;" but the fact is, there are too many Alabamians out there worrying about finding, or keeping, a job of their own for the head of the Ag Department to go around making up positions just to clear the field of 2014 opponents. Hasn't Dale done enough to make Alabama the laughing stock of the entire country?

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If the actions of John McMillan are indicative of what the Alabama Republican Party is all about, the people of Alabama won't stand for it. In the words of Dale Peterson, himself, "We're better than that!"

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