KDOT Secretary Mike King resigns

[route56]

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2016/jun/29/kdot-secretary-mike-king-announces-resignation/

Exactly what it says on the subject line: KDOT Secretary Mike King has announced he will resign effective July 15. Based on the way the article is worded, it sounds like he will be returning to the family business.

[J N Winkler]

The Wichita Eagle reports this morning that King has been hired as a regional director for Murphy Tractor, a multi-state John Deere dealer.

http://www.kansas.com/news/business/article90368062.html

I don't know if this is a step down from being KDOT secretary, but it hardly looks like a step up.  A few comparisons (though none that are necessarily direct) come to mind.  Deb Miller, KDOT secretary 2003-2012 and King's immediate predecessor aside from a temporary appointment, worked for Cambridge Systematics immediately after leaving office, and is now a member of the Surface Transportation Board.  Pete Rahn, secretary of NMSHTD (now NMDOT) under Governor Gary Johnson in the late nineties/early noughties, became MoDOT secretary after leaving NM, resigned after the Missouri voters failed to approve a transportation funding referendum, apparently went back to NMDOT for several years as a district director, and is now the Maryland DOT secretary.  Gloria Jeff, director of Michigan DOT 2003-2006 and probably the first African-American, and definitely the first woman, to be appointed to that position, is now the MPO planning chief for (of all places) Wichita.

[Rothman]

The Wichita Eagle reports this morning that King has been hired as a regional director for Murphy Tractor, a multi-state John Deere dealer.

http://www.kansas.com/news/business/article90368062.html

I don't know if this is a step down from being KDOT secretary, but it hardly looks like a step up.  A few comparisons (though none that are necessarily direct) come to mind.  Deb Miller, KDOT secretary 2003-2012 and King's immediate predecessor aside from a temporary appointment, worked for Cambridge Systematics immediately after leaving office, and is now a member of the Surface Transportation Board.  Pete Rahn, secretary of NMSHTD (now NMDOT) under Governor Gary Johnson in the late nineties/early noughties, became MoDOT secretary after leaving NM, resigned after the Missouri voters failed to approve a transportation funding referendum, apparently went back to NMDOT for several years as a district director, and is now the Maryland DOT secretary.  Gloria Jeff, director of Michigan DOT 2003-2006 and probably the first African-American, and definitely the first woman, to be appointed to that position, is now the MPO planning chief for (of all places) Wichita.

Although the private sector "regional director" title may seem less glamorous than going into the other public positions that his predecessors chose, in my experience, I've seen NYSDOT executives become regional directors in the private sector and be quite happy with their compensation.

The top-paid executive at NYSDOT (which isn't the Commissioner, but the Chief Engineer) in 2015, made just over $160,000 in salary, for comparison.