State Capitol regular James Amann will still be poking around the halls of power. New Speaker of the House Chris Donovan has named Amann as a senior advisor. Oh, and he'll collect $120,000 a year.
The decision comes at a time when the state is facing a $343 million deficit.
The pair have worked together in the past, when Amann was the House Speaker and Donovan was the Majority Leader.
Donovan told NBC Connecticut that it was a natural choice to have Amann on his team. Amann will serve as an adviser and will help with community outreach, arranging meetings with businesses and advocacy groups.
The new speaker says the hire is well within his budget. "I have changed some staff around. There are some people who are no longer working there, some other people have changed as well, so we’re working within our budget to make this work," said Christoper Donovan.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office is not commenting on the recent hire. Or re-hire.
