— 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.