Ok, I gave Bruce the benefit of the doubt. I figured we should all get behind him and try to make him a success. And so what is the first thing he does? We have from the Daily Camera [emphasis added]:
The offer was a one-year contract. Benson will be paid $378,000 a year, the same salary as Brown.
"I'm not doing it for the money," Benson said today. "I'm doing it because I think there is so much to accomplish. I think the University of Colorado can take the lead of higher education in the state."
Bullshit. With his balance sheet taking a salary of $1 would have been a class act. Taking the average salary of a full professor could be defended as an equitable pay package. Hell, taking the full amount and making a statement that acknowledges why he is getting so much would be lousy, but acceptable.
But to push for the maximum amount, and to then claim it's not the money. I don't buy it. And it's a dumb way to start the job after the incredibly contentious confirmation fight. So Bruce, it's not just that this adds to the concern that you'll do a lousy job - now we have to worry that you're politically tone-deaf. And that's fatal in this job.
