Foes nip governor on office staffing
Jaws dropped around the State House this year when the $120,000 annual salary for Governor Mitt Romney's new press secretary surfaced. Yesterday, Democrats poured more criticism on Romney when they learned about his Office of Operations, which schedules events, tweaks lighting, and prepares stages for the governor who may want to be president.
The Office of Operations recently moved into an expanded basement suite in the State House, where a sign outside the office bears the Roman numerals LXX -- because Romney is the 70th governor of Massachusetts. Staffers in the office wear similar LXX lapel pins. The director is Jay Garrity, who once was ticketed by Boston police for driving a car outfitted like a police cruiser.
''A 13-member staff operation to advance his public events is akin to a theatrical production," said Jane Lane, communications director of the state Democratic Party. ''It's simply mind-boggling that the governor of this state would require that kind of operation to step out into public."
Several interns from the state Democratic Party yesterday protested the office's funding outside the State House, holding signs saying: ''Mitt -- We Don't Want To Pay For Your Presidential Campaign!" and ''Mass. Taxpayers: How Much Are You Paying To See Movie Star Mitt?" The office was detailed yesterday by the Boston Herald.
Garrity, 27, earns $76,500 a year, part of the $348,700 in salary for the Office of Operations. The office also has four unpaid interns. The average staffer makes just under $40,000.
Romney's press secretary, Julie Teer, defended the arrangement.
''In the governor's office, we have the same basic structure as prior governors -- a press secretary, three deputy press secretaries, a photographer, and a director of operations," Teer said.
She also said that spending in the governor's office has decreased on Romney's watch, from $5.4 million when he took office to $4.7 million last year. But critics charge that the Office of Operations, created by Romney in August 2003 to merge several other functions, is much larger than under previous administrations.
The office is in charge of scheduling, preparing and setting up events, briefing the governor, and issuing proclamations and citations, according to Teer. Earlier this year, the office was relocated to the State House basement when lawmakers reorganized Beacon Hill office space.
Any time Romney makes a public appearance, the operations staff makes sure things run smoothly. They arrive early and stay late, standing quietly off to the side, wearing earpieces. They prep the governor beforehand, and escort him after each event, making him available to reporters if he wants to answer questions and firmly turning them away if he doesn't. They also respond to some 75 invitations Romney gets each day from across the state.
Most of the office members are in their 20s, and five of the nine salaried staffers have been hired since September 2004.
The office is separate from Romney's press office, which has been bolstered by the recent addition of Teer, who makes $120,000, compared with $90,000 paid her predecessor. Romney's communications director, Eric Fehrnstrom, last year made $159,915, just $119 shy of Cynthia Gillespie, chief of intergovernmental affairs, the highest paid of the 67 employees in the governor's office in 2004, according to state records.
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com. 
