30 responses so far ↓

• 1 bel air republican // Jan 26, 2007 at 3:29 pm

  Ask yourself this question (if you are at least 30 years or older): Do you think you (or anyone you know) would have been capable of handling the job?
  “Learning the job” is to be done at the lower levels. Although we all learn something every day, that level job is too much. I remember being questioned if I was old/experienced enough to be a major department manager because I was less than 40 (I was 30 at the time). Was I? Although I handled the job, I do think I could have handled it better with a few more years experience. Sometimes being thrown in the fire is a big teacher, but the risk of failure is high and this is not a position that can risk that failure.
  Political favors aside, I can not believe he has the experience necessary.

• 2 GOPerative2 // Jan 26, 2007 at 3:47 pm

  As a 24 year old, I take no offense at that—considering that we’re talking about almost 2000 people, I’ll admit that it makes sense. Still, I would have to say that lack of respect for a leader simply because of his age is rather petty.

• 3 GOPerative // Jan 26, 2007 at 9:29 pm

  Bel Air Republican,
  I don’t necessarily have a list of people that would have been “capable of handling the job.” I would have looked to someone with at least 5+ years of management experience. I think a conservative lawyer might have done well especially because of the potential for litigation. What would not have been on my list is a 24 year old with minimal management experience.

  I think the job should have been filled by someone with more life and work experience. My tax dollars are being spent ($400,000 over the next four years) on a guy who will be “learning on the job.” If I’m going to overpay someone, I want them to be ready day one. The more I think about this the more upset I get. This is just more ammo to use against Craig in 2010.

• 4 GOPerative // Jan 26, 2007 at 9:38 pm

  GOP2,
  Age says a lot in this kind of situation. I have never met a 24 year old who had the ability to step into a company with 2,000 employees as the head of anything. When I think of young people who have done similar things (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, etc…), they all had products or innovative ideas that people were willing to purchase. In this situation the company already exists. It is like handing over a company with 2,000 employees to someone with no business experience and asking them to take care of all the employees. It’s just not the right thing to do. Things like this can only happen in government.

• 5 MDConservative // Jan 28, 2007 at 8:06 pm

  I am blown away by Craig’s hiring of someone 25 years old to head this important county agency. I guess I should have worked on Craig’s campaign and who knows what position I could have received. If this is Craig’s idea of doing what is best for Harford County then maybe someone else should think about knocking him off in the primary in 4years.

  I am hearing rumblings they are trying to raise taxes (if he wasn’t paying a 25yr 100k maybe that would help lower taxes). If he chooses to do this I would hope to see a challenger in the primary and I would probably work for them without expecting a 100k a year job.

  So my question is this, who could beat Craig in the primary in 4 years?

• 6 Dave // Jan 28, 2007 at 9:21 pm

  I just want to set the record straight: The Director of HR is NOT “in charge of 1,800 people.” It’s a relatively small office that’s responsible for the recruitment, classification, compensation, benefits, and staff training for Harford County employees.

• 7 independent educator // Jan 28, 2007 at 10:06 pm

  I gotta agree with GOP on this one. It is a matter of respect. I have a real hard time with teaching ” facilitators” and “mentors” who spent less than 5 years in the trenches.

• 8 GOPerative // Jan 29, 2007 at 8:48 am

  Dave,
  I’m not sure if your comment was tongue-in-cheek. “…responsible for the recruitment, classification, compensation, benefits, and staff training for Harford County employees,” sounds like a heck of a lot. I am willing to give Scott some time but I find the whole situation disgusting. He will be responsible for “staff training” when he is showing up at meetings with Councilmen with documents on masters programs that are going to teach him how to do his own job. $100,000 is simply too much for someone to learn on the job. Especially someone in a position at this level.

• 9 bel air republican // Jan 29, 2007 at 12:20 pm

  Out of curiosity, what is the method to remove someone from an appointed position, such as this, when after approval, the appointee is not competent in the position? Besides the appointer firing the individual, could the council recall their approval? Could the citizenry force a recall with justification?

  Or does teh heat need to be turned up on the person enough to make them resign for themselves or the reputation of the appointer? Just curious for both county and state level positions.

• 10 GOPerative // Jan 29, 2007 at 2:15 pm

  Bel Air Republican,
  I don’t think there is a method to remove someone from an appointed position. We would have to vote Craig out in 4 years.

  I don’t think anyone is saying that Scott should not be given a job at all. He does have a masters from U.Penn which means that he is no idiot. He seems qualified for a position. Making him the number 2 or 3 man in the HR department probably pays pretty well and is a position he can learn from. I see no problem appointing Gibson to the head post in 3-4 years after he has learned the ropes.

  [quote post="240"]does the heat need to be turned up on the person enough to make them resign for themselves or the reputation of the appointer?[/quote]

  We are in the process of turning the heat up on Craig. I think this was a foolish move on his part (even if the job is not what we are making it to be). Perception is reality in this case.

  The County Executive should be able to appoint whoever he wants but he needs to realize that we live in a different world now. This blog, newspapers, and discussion boards are permanently on the record and easy to call up again in four years. This issue may go away but it will never go away permanently. This is just another big question mark I have about David Craig.

• 11 PolJunk // Jan 29, 2007 at 2:34 pm

  MD Conservative, you asked…Who could beat Craig in a Primary in 4 years? What about Barry Glassman?

• 12 GOPerative // Jan 29, 2007 at 3:33 pm

  PolJunk,
  Good to hear from you. I think the question is, who couldn’t beat Craig in four years? Barry would beat him 75-25 in the primary. I think Bane would beat Craig, depending on his next four years at the sheriff’s office. Cassily would give him a run for his money. It will be an interesting four years. So far Craig has appointed a 24 year old to head the HR department, proposed obscene amounts of educational spending, and his Council is already talking about more taxes (transfer taxes count) which he has not spoken out against. In my opinion that is not the kind of County Executive we need.

  Poljunk, I’ll run against him if you will too.

• 13 TrueHarford // Jan 29, 2007 at 7:13 pm

  I can’t believe that so many people would bash someone whom they know so little about. From what the story in the Aegis said, Gibson has a Master’s degree in Government Administration from an Ivy League school, and he was previously the deputy director of a state government agency.

  If 24 is too young to run an HR department, then how old must the best candidate be? 25? 30? 40? 70? While we’re at it, what race, ***, and religion should the person be?

  And who exactly should Craig have appointed instead? Y’all are acting like the democrats when they criticize Bush’s decisions but offer no plan of their own. If not Gibson, then who specifically?

  It’s also sad that so many of you believe the Aegis’s misleading statement that Gibson will be the supervisor of 2,000 people. Try 10 at the most.

  Senator Hooper says he can hack it, and I’d say that he knows a thing or to about running a business. That’s good enough for me. Give the guy a chance.

• 14 MDConservative // Jan 29, 2007 at 9:50 pm

  I don’t know Gibson that well but I do know a few things.

  1)His job as Deputy Director in the Ehrlich administration was a cushy administration appointment. If HR head was the same type of no real responsibility job then I would not have had an issue with him getting it.

  2) Craig could have found someone much more talented if he put out the word. Plenty of applications would have come in for a 100k a year job. (Paul Magness is just one person off the top of my head since he was the gov’s liaison to the Public Service Commission but I am sure others are more qualified)

  3) From what I hear Senator Hooper wasn’t very a glowing endorsement for Scott. I even think Hooper was looking for a way to get rid of him in his office. Maybe someone should ask Senator Hooper if he would have truly put Scott in that position if the decision was his to make.

  Finally, just because someone criticizes does not mean they are Democrat. That reminds me very much a Communist witchhunts in the mid 20th century.

  On a separate note, I don’t see Delegate Glassman as a legitimate candidate. I agree Craig could lose against almost anyone, but delegate Glassman is not exactly the bastion of conservatism. To win a Republican Primary, the candidate must be more conservative than Craig. Any other ideas?

• 15 bel air republican // Jan 30, 2007 at 8:21 am

  First, degrees are not a substitute for experience. Additional degrees usually lend toward specialization and do not get the bang that applicable experience can get. That said, for this type of position, someone would need at least 5 years REAL management experience with at least 2 in an HR type role. I have seen it too often, when a highly degreed individual lacks the common sense and hands on work that only experience bring and the whole organization suffers whether private or public sector. (P.S. If someone has their on business, cut the experience requirements in half since they’ve put in double the effort in that period.)
  Second, if this position is not as important or require as much experience as some have mentioned, why is it paying $100K?
  Finally, are we taxpayers also going to pay for Gibson’s advanced degrees and certifications in addition to the 100K?

• 16 PolJunk // Jan 30, 2007 at 9:02 am

  GOPerative

  Maybe you could win the election with my support and just appoint me head of the HR department as a politcal favor.

  Seriously though, nothing against Scott Gibson, I have no doubt of his intelligence as a Penn grad, but the reality is…most college grads don’t “cut their teeth” at $100K/yr (as reported by GOPerative)…furthermore, if there is an entry level govt job supervising only 10 people (as indicated by TrueHarford) that pays $100K, sign me up!!!

  I’ve yet to understand the concept of raising the transfer tax to assist in paying for upgrading infrastructure caused by new development. The impact fee has been the only thing that made sense in regard to those upgrades.

  I’m always amused by those who criticize the critics. I look at it in a very simplistic fashion. (Note: I state this from the examples provided above, not necessarily as my opinion on the subject matter) It’s not my job to appoint people, it’s not my job to develop military strategy, etc., etc., so don’t ask me to provide the alternative to something that clearly needs redirection/reassessment. Those with that responsibility ’should’ be able to do that without my help if they are competent individuals. Criticizing the critics is just a copout to cover up incompetence.

  MDConservative, do you honestly believe it takes a conservative to win a R Primary in Harford? Did you pay attention in the ‘06 elections? All the Republican pandering to conservative/moderate Dems had its effect on the election and make up of the ‘new’ Harford County Republican party. Besides, I wouldn’t go so far as to call Barry a centrist. He’s always seemed to be a likable guy with a reasonable approach to things.

  Provided Sheriff Bane ‘turns around’ the HCSO, which I have no doubt he will. I wonder if he would really want to take a shot at CE? From my limited time around him, he really seemed dedicated to and passionate about law enforcement. I would take a look at the ‘06 AA CE race as a possible model for the ‘10 HC CE race if he did. I thought a very popular Sheriff Johnson (D) with crossover appeal would have defeated St. Del. Leopold (R). Sheriff Johnson had the backing of a number of Repubs and just about every CE in the history of the county and still came up short.

• 17 BullElephant // Feb 1, 2007 at 9:06 am

  I’m back. Glad to see the site back and running strong.

  Is it a matter of age to me, no. Is a matter of experience, most definately. The HR director can be 40 or 50 but if they need to learn on the job then maybe this isn’t the job for them. Also how does a 24 year old motivate the others who work for him.

  I have to disagree with Dave. The way I see it the HR director does technically have 1800 people under him. He is ultimately responsible for many things, among them an employees hiring and firing!

• 18 MDConservative // Feb 1, 2007 at 8:22 pm

  Yes I do think you need to be conservative to win a primary in Harford County and here is why. Biggs was more conservative than Mullis and he won. Glass appeared more conservative than Pate and then more than Kohl in the General Election. Stifler is much more conservative than Parrott. Maybe these are fluke examples, but they look like a trend to me.

  Delegate Glassman is likeable, but I would also call him squishy. What you call reasonable I call lacking (pardon the word) balls. He needs to quit pandering to Dems including those in the Harford Delegation and start standing up for conservative principles. You will never see Delegate Glassman taking a principled stance saying he will never raise taxes nor standing up for any other set in stone conservative principle. Explain to me why he would back someone not from Harford County (Delegate McDonough) for Harford County Delegation Vice-Chair over someone from within the county? Are his personal politics so petty that he will not look out for the best interest of the county?

  Leopold is a good example but he ran a good campaign. Running a good campaign trumps who is for or against you.

  Ok, that is my rant for the evening. On the original topic, Gibson should do the honorable thing and step down and then allow Craig in a month to appoint him to a lower paying, but more appropriate position for his current experience and skill set.

• 19 r. jackson // Feb 2, 2007 at 5:12 pm

  Time to get off Scott Gibson’s case. My gosh, the man is a graduate of the Wharton School at Penn, the most prestigious of it kind on the planet and his degree is perfect for the HR position. I’m sure he can supervise the HR office personnel quite well, thank you.

• 20 GOPerative // Feb 2, 2007 at 10:13 pm

  r. jackson,
  The Masters of Public Administration degree is not issued from the Wharton School of Business. The Wharton School of Business has nothing to do with the MPA degree. I could be wrong but you will need to provide a link. http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/ has no reference to a Masters in Public Administration (MPA). If he were a graduate of Wharton, I would be impressed. Since he is not, I am not.

• 21 BullElephant // Feb 3, 2007 at 6:09 am

  r.jackson, a degree does not earn your the experience on how to handle hr issues nor manage 1800 employees. No one should use a degree as the sole factor for employment. I personally am not impressed regardless of the degree or institution to where it was earned. I am impressed with the hard work put behind the classroom education.
  If I just graduated from *** institution of higher learning with a political science masters degree does that qualify me to be the National Security Advisor? Think about it.
  Pay your dues first then rise to the top.

• 22 SJ // Feb 5, 2007 at 2:59 pm

  The Director of Human Resources does not oversee 1800 employees! The Director will oversee HR-related activities for all County employees. In a typical office place, your HR manager is not your boss. Mr. Gibson would be overseeing a small office of employees who cut paychecks, oversee training, etc.

  And yes, Scott does have a graduate degree from Penn — an IVY LEAGUE institution. With that, I would contend that he has accomplished more in his 24 years that most people will in 50. No, Mr./Ms. BullElephant, this position is not National Security Adivsor – this is a supervisory HR position overseeing a small office.

  If an Ivy League graduate degree is not enough to fill this position, what qualifications must an employee have? Multiple graduate degrees? A degree from Oxford? Or would you state that, say, 5 years of low-level experience is more valuable than a Penn graduate degree? My bet is that if he did nothing for the next 6 years but watch paint dry, and then be selected for the same position, nobody would question it. Why? Because of his age – not his qualifications.

• 23 Max Powers // Feb 5, 2007 at 6:20 pm

  I feel bad for Scott. He seems like a nice enough guy. It’s not his fault that he was put in a position that he wasn’t really ready for. Who is going to turn down 100k at the age of 24?
  You have to question the judgement or arrogance of the person that offered him that kind of deal though. I guess the Executive doesn’t much care what people think or how things look. That’s the message I take away from this; that the Executive can and will do what he wants.

• 24 GOPerative // Feb 5, 2007 at 8:13 pm

  SJ,
  You guys can try to spin this all you want. A degree means absolutely nothing. I have a degree from a top 20 university and it means absolutely nothing. We are not asking for “low level experience.” We are asking for high level experience managing a successful company’s HR department or at least something close to it. Others have made this argument and I will repeat it. If this is such a nothing job with little responsibility then cut the salary in half and stop ripping us off. Either way you spin this Craig loses. He hired a political crony who was not qualified for the position he received. Or he hired a qualified person who has no real responsibility but makes over $100,000 per year. Lose-Lose for Craig. Lose-Lose for the citizens of Harford County.

• 25 BullElephant // Feb 6, 2007 at 6:18 am

  SJ, a degree means absolutely nothing without something to back it up. Qualifications equal experience. You need experience to lead a department. Experience in that field as well. Not on the job training. Lets compare this again. I just earned my MBA from *** school and I am 24 years old. I think I’m good enough to be the COO or whatever of a leading Fortune 500 company. Don’t you think that the shareholders will be just a bit upset at the board of directors making a move like that? In this instance the citizens of Harford County are the shareholders and Mr. Craig is the board. I don’t think Harford County would be paying someone over 100K a year to oversee a small office. If thats the case then we have a whole new issue to discuss.
  I once again have to disagree also on the management issue. The HR director does manage these people. He is directly involved in their pay and benefit design as well as their ultimate peril of having a job or not (hiring and firing). No he doesn’t write 1800 evaluations but he controls how they are designed and handled.
  Being nice is wonderful but it doesn’t help instill confidence in anyone when it comes to your knowledge skills and abilities as a department head.

• 26 bel air republican // Feb 6, 2007 at 8:46 am

  As a person gets further and further from their graduation date from college, where there degree came from means less and less. That is because with time comes experience and teh thing that is looked at most closely what have you done in the real world. College and university learning is not the real world and does not always correlate. The reason the type of degree and college one graduates from is important is that in in the first few years after graduation there is no relevant experience. The basis is on what you MAY have learned and what background you MAY have experienced and the people you MAY have known.

  Top schools often provide the best of these categories which MAY give the person a jump on the rest of the other schools graduates. But it does not guarantee it because it is not what you know or MAY know that is important but how you apply it. How you apply it can only be demonstrated through experience.

  From this, you could surmise that a person from a top school with the jump on the group would have earlier opportunities to demonstrate their skills and knowledge and would gain the higher level experience at an earlier age. Is this guaranteed? Definitely not! That is why the experience because the teller not the degree.

  Does Scott Gibson have this experience? It does not seem so. Could he acquire it at an earlier age than expected of someone with a lesser academic background? Possibly. Should the people and employees of Harford County be his proving ground at this upper level position without the demonstrated experience? No. Is it his fault that he was put in this position? Not entirely, because he doesn’t have the experience to know better.

  In this case, who is responsible for this mistake? The hiring authority which would be the CE and the approving council. Who will feel the loss? The taxpayers and employees of Harford County.

• 27 Bel Air Conservative // Feb 7, 2007 at 1:01 pm

  I don’t think age should be the primary concern, but rather the lack of relevant experience. There are plenty of mid-20 year-olds out there who have started their own business or are otherwise successful demonstrating leadership in the corporate world. I’m one of them – I have an MBA and have quickly risen through the ranks at my mid-sized corporation to a significant leadership position.

  Gibson’s claimed expereince seems to be that he managed Hooper’s 2002 campaign. The truth is that Hooper would get elected no matter who managed his campaign, because of his name.

  Some of the comments cite an MPA degree as relevant expereince. Note that an MPA is not the same thing as a MBA, which would be a better indicatior of one’s aptitude for managerial compotency. As GOPerative pointed out, a Wharton grad is someone who can command respect. The MPA is probably for people who couldn’t get into Wharton.

  This is a clear case of cronyism on the part of Craig. I am a lifelong conservative, and am disappointed with “Republicans” like Craig.

• 28 PolJunk // Feb 12, 2007 at 12:22 pm

  [quote comment="4183"]Yes I do think you need to be conservative to win a primary in Harford County and here is why. Biggs was more conservative than Mullis and he won. Glass appeared more conservative than Pate and then more than Kohl in the General Election. Stifler is much more conservative than Parrott. Maybe these are fluke examples, but they look like a trend to me.[/quote]

  I don’t think you should ingnore these races. 1) Shrodes over anyone, 2) Boniface over Kazi, 3) Slutzky over Spatz (Spatz attacked from the right), 4) Hopkins over Christoforo

• 29 Get Real // Feb 14, 2007 at 2:41 am

  David Craig has once again shown his arrogance. He has placed Scott Gibson in a terrible position. The negative PR has made the GOP look horrible. It is the cumulative effect of hiring one’s sisiter-in-law, son-in-law, and then an inexperienced campaign worker at $101,500. Craig did not have the support of most county workers in the last election. He can forget them next time. Even staunch GOP members are disgusted with Craig. He has absolutely no business sense about him. The scary part is that if he had business sense, he probably would igonore it and do whatever he wanted anyway.

  Craig has also lost the suppport of most of the business community. Oh, they may still cut him checks, but they are looking for a primary opponent. They need a good Republican who will run the county like a business. I can see Barry Glassman, Nany Jacobs, Mike Geppi, or even Jim Harkins saying ‘enough is enough’! Any of those folks could take him out. One thing that is being repeated all over the county is that Craig “just doesn’t listen.” He is perceived as being so arrogant that he would hire a 24-year old at $101,500 and thumb his nose at anyone who would complain. He may re-think that strategy in 3 years when a true Republican takes him out hard in the primary. It needs to be someone who is not afraid to speak the truth. Someone who will go at Craig’s jugular. Someone with a real connection to the business community. Watch out Craig. And to those who would go down with the ship . .. Erin Tomarchio, John Richardson,
  Scott Gibson . . . wise up and realize that you have no real infulence with your boss. Even you Gibson. Craig has not really done you any favors here. If he was smart, he would have put you in a reasonable postion that is comensurate with your experience. He has embarrassed all of you and shame on each of you if you continue to enable him!

  The GOP is not going to let you make a mockery of them indefintely. Hopefully the central comitee will wake up and help put the brakes on Craig’s mismanagement.

• 30 bel air republican // Feb 21, 2007 at 7:34 am

  Does anyone want to start throwing hats in the ring now for the next election? Remember that there will be an influx NJ/NY people in a few years. Some of them may have political aspirations.

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