One thing you can say for sure, Mr. Dooley sure is loyal (to a fault) to his cronies. Instead of firing these cronies from their plum patronage jobs, he’d rather throw hardworking county employees out into the street who actually do meaningful work for the county.

Post Dispatch:

County Executive Charlie A. Dooley said Wednesday that he was laying off 20 full-time employees in the parks department and six in public works. “It’s unfortunate and disappointing but it’s what we had to do with the budget costraints,” Dooley said Wednesday. He said the cuts would save the county about $4 million. Of that amount, $3.6 million comes out of the parks budget.

Council Chairman Mike O’Mara, who played a key role in ending the impasse in December, reacted angrily Wednesday to news of the layoffs. “Charlie and I had an agreement that there would not be any layoffs this year, and he broke it,” O’Mara, D-Florissant, said Wednesday. “His promise was part of my sell (of the budget compromise) to my fellow council members. I don’t know what happened since last month, but now I’ve lost my trust with my council members.” Dooley denied making such a promise. Read more…

We know of at least  two positions in county government Mr. Dooley could cut that would save taxpayers $200,000 a year in salary and benefits:

“First, the day after Dooley’s re-election mind you, St. Louis County taxpayers learned that the taxes on their homes was going up. Next, we learned that Dooley consiglieri John Temporiti’s son was awarded a no bid, $70,000 a year job that was created just for him – during a three year hiring freeze!

And this week, we learn that arguably the worst spokesperson to ever work on a campaign, was rewarded for her services with a nice cushy $88,000 year job in county government.” Read more….

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