Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 8

A8 The Arizona Republic Friday, January 17, 1992 Governor cuts role of ai I t. i SI after pay flaps i 0 de GOVERNOR, from pageAl George Leckie The governor's aide will retain -his title as chief operating officer and his $95,000 pay. iJt-lSiL bin FOUR-LEGGED FURNACE Barn manager Howard Turley wipes down Hickory Score, a horse that generated its own heat during a workout in Indianapolis' chilly temperatures. Biting cold gripped the Midwest on Thursday as an onslaught of arctic cold sent temperatures plummeting. Story, A14.

Tim HalcombThe Indianapolis News servaece 6dis oliday ob PAID COMPANY HOLIDAYS This ranking shows the percentage of employers surveyed who observe major holidays by giving employees a paid day off. The survey was of 545 U.S. businesses. his $95,000 pay because his duties have been reduced only about 5 percent, Herstam said. Leckie's staff-management duties have been reassigned to Herstam.

Symington and Herstam said the move is not a demotion for Leckie, who has maintained that the two staffers were paid because they were working. Statements from the two, and public records, indicate otherwise. "Why would there be any penalty involved?" Symington asked when asked whether the move was made to sanction Leckie, a longtime Symington confidant who was finance director of his gubernatorial campaign. Symington was traveling in Sierra Vista on Thursday on his monthly "government on the road" program. Symington also disputed a report in Thursday's Arizona Republic that said two staffers were continuing to draw their state salaries despite not working.

Like Leckie, he said the two were paid for work done. Gary Phelps, Symington's former executive assistant for criminal justice, was paid from Oct. 17, when Symington announced his resignation, to Nov. 30, state records indicate. His pay for the period totaled $9,160.

Leckie told The Republic that Phelps was kept on the payroll because Leckie needed his expertise to acquaint himself with the state Department of Corrections and the Department of Emergency Services, which Phelps oversaw. Leckie took over those duties upon Phelps' departure. "I've always believed in phasing people out," Symington said Thursday. "When someone is booted, there is no transition. It's important to have them phased out." However, on Oct.

17, Symington announced that he had "regretfully accepted" Phelps' resignation. He made no mention that Phelps would continue working for the state past that date. Phelps has said that although he talked to Leckie five times since Oct. 17, their conversations never involved any transition duties. Phelps said he thought he was on vacation and administrative leave during that time.

Marler was told Nov. 8 that her job as Symington's director of field operations had been eliminated in an effort to save money. On Thursday, Marler said she has been doing constituent-service work from her Casa Grande home since November and reporting to Leckie. She described her work as "more sporadic than consistent." Marler is scheduled to meet with Herstam this morning. "We're going to be asking questions about what she's been doing in the last month or two," Herstam said, adding that he has no reason to believe she has not been doing a full-time job.

He would not speculate on what action he would take if he concluded that Marler had not been earning her $52,500 paycheck. Marler disputed reports that portrayed her as among 10 Symington staffers that received hefty raises in 1991. She said she wrongly was listed on state records as earning $50,000, and said she, Symington and Leckie had agreed that she would join the administration at a salary of $52,500. When she brought the lower pay to Symington's and Leckie's attention last March, they adjusted her salary and gave her back pay to make up the difference. Leckie is the highest-paid member of Symington's executive staff.

Herstam is paid $85,000 a year, after his $10,000 raise was rescinded Sunday. He said Thursday that he will not receive a raise despite taking on duties that once were Leckie's. Leckie will continue to be responsible for economic policy, various state agencies, and oversight of Project SLIM, Symington's "diet plan" for state spending. Leckie's move marks the second major shuffle of the governor's inner circle in three months. In October, Herstam replaced Bunny Badertscher as chief of staff in a shake-up that came on the heels of a controversy involving the Department of Public Safety.

That led to Phelps' resignation, as it was generally believed that Phelps had engineered the controversy. Badertscher, who has worked as Symington's strategic-policy adviser since October, confirmed Thursday she is leaving his administration Jan. 31 to pursue other activities. She would not. elaborate but said the work will keep her "partly" involved in politics.

She was Symington's campaign manager. 1) Christmas 100 9) Good Friday 40 2) New Year's Day 99 1 0) Christmas Eve 38 3) Thanksgiving 99 .11) New Year's Eve 22 4) Independence Day 99 12) Veterans Day 20 5) Labor Day 99 13J Columbus Day 18 6) Memorial Day 98 14) Martin Luther 7) Day after Thanksgiving 63 King Jr. Day 17 8) Presidents Day 45 15) Employee's birthday 16 Source: The Associated Press HOLIDAY, from page A 1 was not conducted as a scientific poll, and there was no margin of error. King Day falls not only behind such holidays as Christmas Day, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving Day and Independence Day, but also behind Presidents Day, Veterans Day, Co-; lumbus Day, New Year's Eve, Christ-; mas Eve, the day after Thanksgiving and Good Friday. It ranks ahead of an employee's birthday, which 16 per-1 cent of the companies offer as a I holiday.

Even in King's birthplace, Atlanta, where a parade in observance of King Day is scheduled for Monday, several businesses have called the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Holiday Commission to complain that the festivities will disrupt their workday. "Most businesses in the downtown area would like to operate as if it were a normal day," said the Rev. James Orange, a union organizer who was a top aide to King. Big businesses that don't give the off include the Coors Brewing employers in the Phoenix area indicates that: Motorola, which has about 20,000 employees in the Valley, and Honeywell, with about 9,000 employees, give their workers a floating holiday.

American Express, with about 6,600 employees, and Phoenix Newspapers publisher of The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Gazette and the Arizona Business Gazette, with 2,129 full-time and contract employees, will observe the King holiday on Monday. Several other major employers do not observe the holiday. These include Allied-Signal Aerospace, with about 10,500 employees; McDonnell Douglas, with and Intel, with about 3,800. McDonnell Douglas and Allied Signal give employees about 10 days' worth of holidays during the Christmas season, in addition to some traditional holidays during the rest of the year. Contributing to this article was The Arizona Republic.

The Arizona Republic "One of our challenges is to make sure that the holiday is not only an African-American holiday, but one observed by all," said Allan Minton of the federal holiday commission. "When you allow it to be a floater holiday, you tend to have different ethnic groups taking the day off, which creates divisions among the staff." A random sampling of major which has a float entered in Atlanta's King Day parade, and Georgia-Pacific, which is one of Georgia's largest employers. But both companies say employees may take the day off as one of their "floating holidays," which workers can use any time of the year. Critics complain that mainly blacks are inclined to use a floating holiday to honor King, however. ther 71 lights for King Symington won't cut raise for 1 staffer Peter Burns Is not part of the Governor's Office, and his salary is not from the Governor's Office budget.

i I- I I i li 1 il 1 A i 4. Rosa Parks, flanked by the Rev. H.L Barnwell (left) of the First New Life Missionary Baptist Church and Mayor Paul Johnson, rides a bus to downtown Phoenix. The trip Thursday was symbolic of Parks' 1955 arrest in Montgomery, 'Ala. Lost in the furor over last week's pay raises was an $11,294 raise that Gov.

Fife Symington awarded to Peter Burns, director of the Governor's Office of Strategic Planning and Budgeting. Burns got an 11.5 percent boost, to $85,000, in June, and the raise won't be rescinded, said Chris Herstam, Symington's chief of staff. On Sunday, Symington rescinded raises totaling $73,250 to 10 top staffers, saying the raises, awarded throughout 1991, sent the "wrong message" in the face of the state's grim budget projections. But Burns' $85,000 salary' will not change, Herstam said, because Burns is not part of the Governor's Office and his salary is not drawn from the Governor's Office budget. "He's an agency director," Herstam said.

"He reports to the governor." Burns directed the Executive Budget Office under Gov. Rose Mofford and was retained by Symington when he became governor last March. Herstam said Burns' $85,000 salary puts him on par with Ted Ferris, By Art Thomason The Arizona Republic Rosa Parks, the frail, soft-spoken "Mother of Civil Rights," arrived in Phoenix on Thursday to honor the man who took up her cause in 1955 when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on an Alabama bus. Parks said her dream is that the story of her experience 37 years ago will aid the drive for a paid state holiday in Arizona to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"I really do hope they pass the holiday here," the 78-year-old former congressional aide told Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson as they were seated near the front of a Phoenix Transit bus en route to downtown Phoenix from Sky Harbor International Airport. The bus ride to the Hyatt Regency Phoenix was a symbolic gesture, calling attention to Parks' arrest in Montgomery, Ala. Johnson said he was elated that Parks was bringing a "positive message the right message" to Phoenix and Arizona as the state continues to struggle with the King-holiday issue. "She said she was coming here because the city has a paid holiday honoring Martin Luther King, not because Arizona does not have a paid state holiday," Johnson said. However, during a news conference at the airport, Parks said she hopes her appearance in Phoenix will advance the Arizona King holiday movement.

director of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Ferris is paid $87,095 a year. Lawmakers arched their eyebrows at the increase but didn't criticize the move. "I thought it was the 'Governor's Office' of strategic planning and budgeting," said Senate Appropriations Chairman Jaime Gutierrez, D-Tucson. "I never thought of it as an agency." The office widely is viewed as an arm of the Governor's Office, but its budget is separate from the Governor's Office's.

Gary R. UlikThe Arizona Republic efforts eventually grew into the civil-rights movement that brought King to national prominence. He was gunned down in Memphis in April 1968. Parks will be honored at a Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast at 7 a.m.

today at the Phoenix Civic Plaza. She will sign copies of her autobiography, Rosa Parks, My Story, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Houle Books at Uptown Plaza, 36 E. Camelback Road. Parks was greeted at the airport by more than 200 cheering city officials, civil-rights leaders, teachers and pupils as she emerged from an American Airlines ramp in a wheelchair.

"She is the mother of the modern-day movement for equality and justice," said Phoenix Municipal Judge Jean Williams, who accompanied Parks on the ride to the Hyatt. Parks said she never expected that her ordeal in 1955 would become legend. "At that moment, I did not realize that I would become a national symbol," she said during her news conference. "The only thing I can remember is that I felt I was being violated as a human being. "I was very happy that Martin Luther King was in Montgomery at the time." King and other black leaders organized a boycott of Montgomery buses after the Parks episode.

The Suspect takes boy hostage, both fatally shot by police 70 of Arizona workers won't get King Day off home, police said. Police told the family to leave the house, Foxworth said, but when Martha McMurray went to awaken her son, Nathan Thomas, she found the man in his bed, holding a 12-inch knife to the boy's throat. "The suspect appeared to be about to start slicing the boy's throat, and the three officers fired their weapons, fatally wounding the suspect and also striking the boy," Foxworth said. The man carried no identification, and police were trying to identify him by fingerprints. The Associated Press PORTLAND, Ore.

Police early Thursday shot and killed a burglary suspect and his 12-year-old hostage. The burglar appeared to be cutting the boy's throat when three officers opened fire, authorities said. The officers were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, police spokesman Derrick Fox-worth said. Officers responded to a report of a burglary in progress at a northeast Portland home. The man had fled the house by the time police arrived, and a police dog led officers to a nearby (in 1990) because they don't want to be told what to do," she said.

"It's like losing a bit of our good old Western liberty. We have plenty of paid holidays." Beverly Fairchild-Ivey of Tucson didn't get King Day off at her last job, which was with an insurance company, but she wishes she had. "Yes, I think employees should get that day off," she said. 70, from page A 1 But when those who don't get King Day off were asked whether they think their boss should grant them the holiday, 67 percent said "no," 28 percent said "yes," and 5 percent had no opinion. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Arizona is the only state without a paid King Day in 1990. The issue will go before them again in November's general election. Republic Poll participant Sally Steele, who owns a real-estate firm in Sedona, said she probably would give her two employees King Day off with pay if they asked. As independent contractors, her sales associates are free to do what they want, she said. "People voted against the holiday paid holiday honoring either King or the civil-rights movement.

It has been embroiled in controversy and an economic boycott ever since then-Gov. Evan Mecham rescinded the King holiday in early 1987. Mecham said the state Attorney General's Office had concluded that his predecessor had exceeded his authority in declaring the commemoration. Arizona voters narrowly rejected a.