Sass Puts Political Toadies on State Payroll

Well, Wisconsin, hire an unqualified political hack and this is what you get. 

When the longtime director of the state’s $2 billion college savings program retired last year, the list of potential replacements included an asset manager, a tax lawyer and an estate planner — even the program’s veteran deputy director.

Instead, the job went to Megan Perkins, 32, a key political aide to Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass, a Democrat.

Perkins had previously served as projects coordinator for First Lady Jessica Doyle and as a Wisconsin field organizer for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004.

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In March 2007, two part-time employees in the unclaimed property division lost their jobs after Sass created a full-time job to help her in building the profile of that division.

One, Rick Berg said in an interview he lost his part-time job and wasn’t hired for the new full-time job, for which he was interviewed, because he holds conservative political views and has worked several jobs under Republican governors.

“It was clear the decision had nothing to do with performance and everything to do with politics,” Berg said.

Lease said the job needed a person who could update the unclaimed property program and raise its profile among the public.

The woman who was named to the full-time job, Stephanie Wilson, 23, had previously worked for Doyle’s constituent services arm. Wilson has since replaced Perkins as Sass’s political aide.