Nicole Parra survives state cuts
| Thursday, May 14 2009 06:02 PM
Last Updated Friday, May 15 2009 09:35 AM
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Assemblywoman Nicole Parra
Nicole Parra skipped through the state's drastic budget cuts unscathed.
She'll hold on to the $128,000-a-year job the governor recently created for her.
"Her position is not a general fund position," a spokeswoman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office said Thursday, following an afternoon press conference that included news of 5,000 pink slips headed out to state employees.
Parra's January appointment to a newly minted economic development post raised eyebrows at the time.
She is among a half-dozen or so termed-out state lawmakers who were given six-figure jobs by Schwarzenegger early this year, when the economic meltdown was in full swing.
Parra, a Democrat who represented parts of Bakersfield and other Central Valley communities in the state Assembly, endorsed Republican Danny Gilmore to replace her. (Gilmore won.) Pundits said her endorsement prompted the governor's appointment.
Some voters and critics were mad simply because the cush posts seemed to violate the spirit of term limits. Would these politicians ever have to get real jobs, they wondered?
Others pointed out the economic development industry is already bloated at both the local and regional level.
Michael Bowman, spokesman for the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency -- a unit in the governor's office where Parra works -- sent an e-mail Thursday describing her efforts in the Central Valley.
"These work plans will represent a local/regional consensus that identifies the best opportunities and specific steps we can take together to stimulate the economy and bring about recovery," Bowman wrote.
A Web search provided scant information about exactly what Parra does in her new role.
In February, Parra took part in a panel on water at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, suggesting the formation of a governance oversight body, the Visalia Times-Delta reported.
In March, she chaired a meeting at the Fresno County Farm Bureau aimed at snagging a federal grant.
Last month, she made a presentation to the Kings County Board of Supervisors at a special meeting in Kettleman City.
