Pricey GOP consultant eludes state budget cuts
Source: By S.V. DATE, Palm Beach Post (FL), Monday, October 08, 2007
Even as House Speaker Marco Rubio's House cut $5,000 from the Florida Supreme Court chief justice's discretionary fund and $1,828 to Nova Southeastern University to help balance the state's budget, he continues to pay a well-connected GOP consultant $10,000 a month, even though she produced no written work in the month of September.
Donna Arduin, once former Gov. Jeb Bush's budget chief, was rehired by Rubio, R-West Miami, starting Sept. 1.
........ This time her job is to provide "consulting services" on the budget cut bill that passed the House Friday. But she has provided no written reports, analyses or recommendations since her contract was renewed, according to Rubio's office.
....... Before working for Bush, Arduin served in similar roles for Republican governors in Michigan and New York. And she recently was named to Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's new 12-member Fiscal Discipline Policy Advisory Group.