I’d like to clarify something that Kitty [Simonds, executive director of the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council] misrepresented at the 141st council teleconference:
The email that I sent to all council staff consisted of a page from one of the multi-year budgets, that listed all staff positions and their base pay, fringe benefits, etc. The reason why I sent this to the staff and not to Kitty was that I was trying to get an answer from someone about what the “profit-sharing” portion of some staff members’ pay was. I had already asked Kitty; I had already asked Sean [Martin, council chair]. No answer. So, since it was clear that, not only Kitty but her inner circle of people were getting this fringe benefit, I decided to ask them what it was about. I did not ask how much anyone was making. I knew that already. I asked only what the profit-sharing was. I knew that other federal fishery councils did not get this benefit because I asked them. The response was no.
If, in fact, there is nothing secretive about this “profit-sharing,” also listed in some places as “employer discretionary compensation,” then why didn’t I get a forthright answer? And Kitty’s response [at the council teleconference] that the profit-sharing is merely a 401(k) is specious: as I noted at the meeting, there is a hefty retirement fund allocation in addition to the profit-sharing. And what accountant is going to list a 401(k) as profit-sharing?
So, as you see, something still stinks here.
Tina Owens
LOST FISH Coalition
Volume 18, Number 12 June 2008
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