hours ago • Kurt Erickson Times Bureau
SPRINGFIELD — The former governor of Hawaii is making more money as an aide to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner than she did when she oversaw the Aloha State.
Rauner's office, along with payroll records filed this week by the Illinois comptroller, show Linda Lingle will receive $60,000 for a state contract running from April to June. After that, she will go on the state payroll as an employee with an annual salary of $198,000.
In 2010, during her final of eight years as governor in Hawaii, Lingle was paid $117,306.
Confirmation of her salary as Rauner's chief operating officer comes as the Winnetka Republican has been defending paying high salaries to members of his Cabinet.
And it comes as Rauner has said rank-and-file workers in Illinois, such as some prison employees, are paid more than their counterparts in other states.
Rauner has called Lingle a "superstar" and says he's willing to pay big salaries to experts who will help fix the state.
"People should be compensated based on talent," Rauner said in March. "We could pay everybody the same and have lots of mediocre folks."
Lingle served two terms as governor of Hawaii from 2002 to 2010 and left politics after making a losing bid for the U.S. Senate in 2012.
She joins a team with six-figure salaries that Rauner has assembled in his first 100 days in office.
The top paid aide is Beth Purvis, who is being paid $250,000 as Rauner's education czar.
Olin "Trey" Childress III, a former chief operating officer for the state of Georgia, is making $198,000 annually. Rauner's chief of staff, Mike Zolnierowicz, is getting $180,000 yearly.
The governor also has been paying Donna Arduin $30,000 per month to serve as a budget adviser. Arduin, who previously worked for Republican governors in California, Florida and Texas, is nearing the end of her four-month contract
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