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| - Joe Conti will become CEO, a new position. The liquor board's chair said he was "very disappointed" by the move. HARRISBURG - Out of a job for only two weeks, former State Sen. Joe Conti today will be named chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, a newly created $150,000-a-year post with the nation's largest buyer of wine and spirits. The Rendell administration pushed the appointment of the Bucks County Republican, calling him perfect for the job. Yet the news was immediately met with outrage by the LCB chairman. "In fact, he's a nice guy," Newman said.
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| abstract
| - Joe Conti will become CEO, a new position. The liquor board's chair said he was "very disappointed" by the move. HARRISBURG - Out of a job for only two weeks, former State Sen. Joe Conti today will be named chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, a newly created $150,000-a-year post with the nation's largest buyer of wine and spirits. The Rendell administration pushed the appointment of the Bucks County Republican, calling him perfect for the job. Yet the news was immediately met with outrage by the LCB chairman. "This is not transparency in public government," said Jonathan Newman, adding that he learned of Conti's hiring when Rendell's office gave him a job description for the new position at 3 p.m. yesterday. "I'm very disappointed and very concerned that this is what government comes down to." Conti, who served for 12 years in the House and Senate before retiring at the end of November, will make more than twice the chairman's $65,572 salary and be in charge of day-to-day operations of the agency, which operates 643 state liquor stores. If a chief executive officer was needed, Newman said, there should have been a nationwide search. "I do not believe it is appropriate for the LCB to pay an unprecedented salary of $150,000 in the style and manner in which this was done," he said. Newman said he planned to oppose the appointment this morning, when the board is scheduled to vote on Conti's hiring. He stressed that he had nothing against him personally. "In fact, he's a nice guy," Newman said. It appeared that the chairman would be outnumbered this morning. The other members of the board, P.J. Stapleton and Thomas Goldsmith, lauded Conti, as did a Rendell spokeswoman. They said that the management structure now in place, with three board members trying to oversee most major functions, was antiquated and that there was a dire need for a chief executive. As CEO, Conti would oversee everything from marketing to procurement to lease arrangements with private businesses and would answer to the board. Rendell appointed all three members of the board to their current terms, although Stapleton and Newman were holdovers from past administrations.
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