Gov. Bill Ritter’s chief of staff says he will not be superseded by a new “chief operating officer” — but rather co-manage state government with him.
Jim Carpenter, who has served as chief of staff since the Democratic governor was elected, said he and Don Elliman, Ritter’s economic development director, will be “partners” in administering the state.
“Don and I are the senior management team,” Carpenter said. “I’m the chief of staff. Don and I both report to Bill Ritter. I’m still the chief of staff, and Don is a partner with me in that.”
Elliman’s comments mirrored Carpenter’s.
“I work with Jim, and I report to the governor,” Elliman said. “He (Carpenter) is still chief of staff.”
Ritter named Elliman, the former president of Kroenke Sports Enterprises and a longtime publishing executive who oversaw advertising and marketing for Time Inc., as the state’s first chief operating officer on June 8.
In a release, the governor emphasized that Elliman would be in charge of administering Colorado’s share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, or the federal economic stimulus money.
State officials have since said that Elliman would “manage and oversee the operations of all state agencies, including budget matters and performance.”
Elliman will keep his salary of $146,034 that he has earned as head of the Office of Economic Development and International Trade. Carpenter makes the same salary.
Carpenter and Elliman said managing the state was a big job that required more muscle with some $3 billion in stimulus funds headed to Colorado.
“It’s really a significant job to effectively manage state government, particularly with all the ARRA money that has come in,” Carpenter said.
He dismissed suggestions that there was a management shake-up in the office.
“We’re trying to manage an $18 billion enterprise in a way that is effective and delivers what it’s supposed to to the taxpayers,” Carpenter said.
Elliman is still serving as head of the economic development office, saying he was trying to do both jobs until the governor finds a new director.
Elliman said Ritter concluded there needed to be “more assets” at the management level overseeing state government.
“What I’m going to be doing in conjunction with Jim Carpenter is providing a little more bandwidth for that management,” he said.”There’s plenty for two of us to do.”
Tim Hoover: 303-954-1626 or thoover@denverpost.com
