Emails trace hiring of Univ. of Texas adviser (more GOP jackassery)

[Blue_Tires]

AUSTIN — University of Texas officials interviewed a conservative think tank analyst prior to writing and posting a job description for a "special adviser," and apparently didn't consult with UT Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa about the posting, according to emails obtained Tuesday by the Houston Chronicle.

The attorney for the Board of Regents at the UT System met Rick O'Donnell in what she described as "an excellent meeting" the day before an official job description was written and posted online, and then asked Chairman Gene Powell if he would "like to get this show on the road?"

"Next step would be to craft a short job description (and I can start that for your review unless you already have something in mind) and for you to give me the target salary range," Francie Frederick wrote in an email to Powell.

O'Donnell is an associate and former employee of Austin businessman Jeff Sandefer, a major contributor to Gov. Rick Perry. Sandefer has promoted controversial "Seven Breakthrough Solutions" to reform higher education, mostly by de-emphasizing research and evaluating professors based on how much they earn a university. O'Donnell, who has worked for Sandefer, wrote policy papers as a senior analyst for the conservative Austin think tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, expressing similar views.

The emails also indicate the job was posted without consulting Cigarroa.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7519154.html