BOSTON (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- It's an Olympic leap in salary for the head of Boston 2024, and now Rich Davey, the former transportation secretary for the state, is defending his big payday to FOX25's political reporter Sharman Sacchetti.
"The salaries are well in line with some of those recent Olympic efforts in New York and Chicago, and you know we're a lean and mean team," said Davey, now the chief executive of Boston 2024.
Perhaps not that lean. Sacchetti dug into the public records, which show in 2013, Davey made just more than $154,000 as Governor Patrick's transportation secretary. In 2014, his salary was bumped up to $178,000.
Now, as head of Boston 2024, he's doubled his salary in two years to $300,000.
And take Joe Rull, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh's former chief of operations.
He went from $150,000 in 2014 working for the city, to $175,000 working for the Olympic bid.
"This seems to be same old same old politics as usual on beacon hill," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University.
He said Boston 2024 has an image problem.
"Residents of Massachusetts think it's a nonprofit pushing civic enterprise and they see those salaries, and it seems more like a commercial enterprise with a lot of people who are wired into the state's political system."
So who is paying all these privately funded salaries?
Right on Boston 2024's own website, it's a who's who of the region's business elite: Everyone from Robert Kraft to WYC Grousbeck to EMC and Liberty Mutual.
The hefty salaries are being paid out of a $75 million budget funded through private donations, and some argue if you want the Olympics, you need big names to lead the bid.
"From a salary standpoint you pay for talent," said Victor Matheson, a sports economist at Holy Cross.
FOX25 did put in a request to talk with former Governor Patrick, but never heard back.
In his last year in public office, his salary was just over $150,000.
Now, he's working as a visiting fellow at MIT. For Boston 2024, he's making $7,500 a day while traveling as a global ambassador.
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