WASHINGTON — Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Jeff Lyash — the highest-paid federal worker with a compensation package deal of $10.5 million per yr — abruptly introduced Friday that he was retiring 11 days after the return to workplace of President Trump, who throughout his first time period slammed Lyash’s “ridiculous” pay and vowed to fireplace him.
“Sounds like Lyash got DOGE’d,” a senior administration official advised The Put up, referring to Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity initiative to rein in allegedly wasteful federal spending.
A TVA rep denied that Lyash was departing both in response to or to get forward of stress from Trump’s workforce after six years within the job.
“The answer is no,” spokeswoman Melissa Greene advised The Put up. “When Jeff was hired in 2019, he told the TVA Board of Directors that he would let them know when he was seriously considering retirement. Jeff kept his word, beginning those conversations with the Board last fall.”
In his goodbye message, Lyash wrote: “While I’m looking forward to my next chapter, spending more time with family, grandchildren, and friends, I will miss our TVA team and the relationships we’ve built across this region.”
“The true strength of TVA is its people – an experienced and passionate workforce who work every day to make a difference,” Lyash added.
Trump tore into Lyash in the course of the ultimate yr of the forty fifth presidency, saying in August 2020 that “we’re getting rid of him in one form or another. Either the board’s gonna do it, or we’re gonna do it, but he’s gone.”
Trump stated on the time that Lyash ought to have been incomes “no more than $500,000 a year” and mustn’t get a “lavish” exit package deal.
By legislation, the president earns $400,000 yearly, along with a $50,000 allowance for bills. Members of Congress obtain a yearly wage of $174,000.
The then-president, responding to a query from The Put up, stated that Lyash was grossly overpaid for his function main the federally owned utility, which is a legacy of New Deal infrastructure tasks.
“That is the greatest job in the history of government almost, certainly if you’re into money … I’ve been waiting for somebody to ask me about that, it’s been bothering me for a long time,” Trump stated at a briefing in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Different TVA workers are additionally incomes prime greenback — with chief monetary officer John Thomas raking in $6.3 million a yr, chief working officer Don Moul incomes $5 million, normal counsel David Fountain making $3.3 million and chief nuclear officer Tim Rausch taking house $3.3 million, based on a November report from the Knoxville Information Sentinel.
Criticism of TVA salaries has been bipartisan, with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) telling The Put up in 2020 that Lyash’s pay was “out of line for a public agency.”
“Many [TVA executives] make over a million dollars running an agency set up to render energy and aid to a poor region in our country that still suffers economically in many areas,” Cohen stated.
“This makes the out-of-line salaries even more distasteful. This has been wrong for decades and those salaries should be considerably reduced, particularly at this time.”
Lyash’s subordinates defended his compensation by noting that utility executives typically get seven- or eight-figure hauls.
