Owens denies giving workers job guarantees

Lynn Bartels and Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 21, 2007 at midnight

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Former Gov. Bill Owens said today that he had nothing to do with extending contracts for high-ranking state employees who faced losing their jobs shortly after the new governor took over.

A story in the Denver Post this morning said the Owens adminstration gave 23 employees job protection when he left office, and that the practice appeared to violate state personnel rules.

Owens said it is ludicrous to suggest that the 23 employees involved were originally hired as part of some patronage scheme.

"These weren't political appointees. They were people who got their jobs through the competitive process. I don't even know most of them. I think I know three of them," he told the Rocky Mountain News.

"Good people are being savaged in this political environment for absolutely no reason."

Owens, a Republican, said he inherited some of the employees in question from former Gov. Roy Romer, a Democrat.

Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald blasted Owens after learning about the contracts.

"It is an interesting tack for an outgoing Republican administration to use, because they're not the grow-government people — supposedly," said Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon.

The employees operate on an annual contract that was set to expire on June 30 of this year.

Former Personnel Director Jeff Wells last year authorized department directors to extend contracts to June 30, 2008.

"My personnel director made this decision based on his belief that it was in the best interest of the state," he said.

"If I had known about it, I would have vetted it around the administration and looked not only at the benefits but the potential downside. That downside is that people would leap to conclusions and charge politics when in fact none was intended," Owens said.

Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter, who succeeded Owens on Jan. 9, has alerted the employees that he does not intended to honor the contract extensions although some employees likely will be asked to stay on past June 30.

Owens, in a statement issued early today, had no problem with that.

"I have always felt that governors and their executive directors should have the maximum flexibility in whom they select for key management positions," Owens stated. "I believe it is proper for Governor Ritter and his cabinet to review these contracts and evaluate the performance of each individual."

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