Failing Upwards

FAILING UPWARDS
BY KIRK KOVACH | DEC 9, 2018 | THE KOVACH CORNER | 0 COMMENTS

If you’re ever worried about job safety, consider going into the world of politics. As long as your party is in control of things, they’ll take care of you. If nobody comes to mind, I’ve got a prime example in hand: Justin Burr. Burr is one of the youngest legislators in the state; or, at least he was. He lost his seat in the Republican primary earlier this year in the 67th district, which is Stanly County. Voters were clearly fed up with some of his colorful antics, and I don’t blame them. Read into their decision to kick him out, and part of their rationale must have been that they don’t see him as a qualified recipient of taxpayer dollars for the work he’s done.

Luckily for Mr. Burr, his partisan brethren in the legislature are going to ensure that he fails upwards. Nothing uncommon is happening here, but since there exists such great reporting on the issue, we might as well dig into the details. The following quotes are drawn from Ritchie Starnes’ article in the Stanly News & Press:

Not only has Burr landed a job with the state but multiple repostings of the position along with legislative action to ensure a higher salary make it appear political insiders helped him get a leg-up on the competition.

Thursday another piece of the puzzle fell into place when state legislators passed SB469. A provision in the bill includes a section aimed at Burr getting a salary above the state’s compensation grading system.

The position in question was created but not filled by the legislature. Conveniently, “Records obtained by The Stanly News & Press show Burr was allowed to apply for the job after the original posting had been closed for nearly three months…”
Snip. More info available at the link.
https://www.politicsnc.com/failing-upwards/