Recently Retired Post-Dispatch Editor Gets Six-Figure Gig with Governor Nixon

Last month we reported how Post-Dispatch features editor, Christy Bertelson, was retiring after 23 years at the paper. Bertelson's last day at the P-D was this past Friday, August 28. 

Now -- three days after leaving the paper -- the Post-Dispatch is first to report today that its former editor has a new gig.

Bertelson began work this morning as the deputy director of Gov. Jay Nixon's Transform Missouri Project, which oversees the use and spending of federal stimulus funds. 

Nixon's spokesman, Jack Cardetti, told the Post-Dispatch that Bertelson will earn $100,000 in her new role. 

So what qualifies her for the job?  

"We are thrilled to have someone with her public policy knowledge join the administration," added Cardetti.

This afternoon I contacted Cardetti to ask a few more questions about Bertelson's new job. Like he told the Post-Dispatch, Cardetti informed me that Bertelson seemed a "natural fit" because of her experience writing about the issues impacting Missouri over the years. (Bertelson was editorial page editor for the paper prior to becoming features editor.)  

Cardetti was less clear on exactly how Bertelson landed her new gig. The governor's spokesman said he didn't know if the position was ever advertised and said he'd have to get back to me with the story of who approached whom for the job. 

Meanwhile, at least one skeptic commenter at the Post-Dispatch suggests that Bertelson's new gig is hardly news.