I got a tip last week while driving across the country. Seems Maida Coleman, the former minority leader for Democrats in the Missouri State Senate has landed a full time gig in Jefferson City. She's working as something called a Designated Principal Assistant/Liaison. That sure sounds like a government title, doesn't it?
I figured it was going to be printed somewhere by the time I got back, but nothing is live. To make the mystery deeper, her name isn't appearing on the MapYourTaxes.gov site. The position also doesn't appear in the list of Missouri government jobs for merit pay, and wasn't posted or even appears to be noticed anywhere in state government, state media, or on personal sites.
Here is the list of Missouri jobs. There are positions open in the Labor and Industrial Relations division, but they are manager positions under the merit system. One has to apply for them. The position Coleman has been "placed" into is apparently not a merit position. It's a stimulus-funded position overseeing unemployment funds.
I don't know Coleman's qualifications, other than being a politician. I know she is listed as working with Labor and Industrial Relations while a state senator, but I'm very curious as to why this former minority leader gets a job with the Nixon administration with so little fanfare.
Of course, the source for the tip is confidential, as is promised for all tips, but I do have permission to say those who work to get hired using the normal hiring process might not be so happy to find a position added to state government using stimulus dollars solely to reward a politician who has been termed out the legislature.
The way the Accountability portal works is pretty straightforward - but stimulus spending doesn't get reported the way state jobs do. This means Coleman could be hidden in plain sight, without any reporters asking questions that might be embarrassing.
And maybe, just maybe, this tip was a bad one. Perhaps the information simply hasn't been added to the system. Perhaps Coleman filled out an application and references, and waited for an interview like other job applicants.
I'd hate to find out the jobs we keep hearing were created out of the stimulus funds were used to hire Democratic politicians.
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