MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In tonight’s Ransom Note: what’s the only thing better than being the eight-million-dollar man? How about getting a two-million-dollar raise?
Well, that is the boost the CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority just got. His name is Jeff Lyash and he is the highest paid federal employee in America.
His new compensation package of 9.9 million dollars represents a 35-percent bump in pay. Now he that’s home twenty times what the President of the Unites States makes.
In fact, it was the last president Donald Trump who called that kind of pay “ridiculous” and urged that it be cut “by a lot.”
Nope. The TVA Board decided to go in the opposite direction, arguing Lyash still makes LESS than the CEOs of other utilities.
You might be interested to know MLGW customers, who live in one of America’s poorest cities, pay a higher percentage of Lyash’s salary than anyone else in the TVA system.
Think about that the next time you pay your bill.
It might also help explain why there’s so much interest in MLGW leaving the TVA and buying electricity from someone else.
I’d love to hear what you think of the poll results. Join the conversation by email (rransom@abc24.com), Facebook, or Twitter.