How Many "Spokespersons" Do We Need?

During my eight years on the Fresno City Council, I could discern a significant increase in the number of city staff positions fully or partially responsible for "public information." These individuals usually had the title of "spokesperson" included in their job title or at least in their job description. Much of this growth in the perceived need for "public information" was the effort of then Mayor Alan Autry and his advisers. I found it somewhat surprising that the City Council did not push back against this increase in "public relations." The probable reason is that elected individuals almost invariably want to tell the public what a good job they are doing (after all, they were elected to do something).

The natural order of organizations, it would seem, is to expand the role of public relations. It is, for example, not much different from the organization for which I work, Fresno City College. The critical question that must be answered is: Why can't the office of mayor, president, chief executive officer, etc. put out the press release, take the phone call from the media, or delegate the responsibility to an appropriate manager? Does the organization really need one, two, three or more spokespersons? Is this an appropriate/best use of taxpayer dollars?

A recent letter to the editor of the Fresno Bee by Linda Kay Lindsey questioning Superintendent Michael Hanson's hiring a year ago of Fresno Unified's chief information officer for $125,000 only to increase it within a few months to $162,000 is an example of the "spokesperson malady" so commonly found in public institutions (I am not speaking here of private companies that may also have the same hubris but are, nevertheless, privately financed). Just the FUSD salary alone in this instance makes one wonder. The Fresno Unified chief information officer supervises two people. Compare this to the recently hired City of Fresno Planning and Development Director, with huge responsibilities and supervision of more than 200 employees, that is paid $150,000.

Another example is the Fresno County Office of Education which regularly runs paid infomercials on radio, television and newspapers extolling their services. Who needs to know that? Isn't that what they are paid to do? What is the cost of the FCEOC staff and how many taxpayer dollars are they spending promoting their organization (and, ultimately, their jobs)?

It would be interesting to have all taxpayer supported organizations in Fresno County release to the public an accounting of how much is spent directly and indirectly by their "spokespersons" on public information. The public then may be in a better position to decide the necessity of these positions.

Coming Soon. . .

1). Three cheers for University High School.
2). Will California compete in President Obama's "Academic Race to the Top?"

Comments are welcome. Click on "Comments" below or e-mail me at abriancalhoun@gmail.com.