HARRISBURG -- If you want power and fame, run for governor. But if you want wealth, be a professor, a bean counter or a turnpike czar.

At least 96 state employees are paid more than Gov. Ed Rendell, whose salary is $174,435. All together, at least 656 have salaries in excess of $150,000. At least 3,836 are paid more than $100,000 a year.

That's a big bill footed by taxpayers, and government watchdog groups say high salaries should be scrutinized carefully. The state employees' bosses, of course, say they earn every penny.

John C. Cavanaugh, chancellor of the State System of Higher Education, tops the list with a $327,500 salary. That's 7 Â 1/2 times as much as the average Pennsylvanian makes in a year. Still, it's much less than the $558,378 that the state of Georgia pays the chancellor of its university system.

With a salary of $320,000, James Preston, executive director of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, isn't far behind Mr. Cavanaugh.

Stephen M. Curtis, president of the Community College of Philadelphia, comes in third with compensation of $227,584, including a $37,500 housing and car allowance.

Other Pennsylvania state workers earning more than the governor include judges, university professors, seven investment officers for government employee retirement systems and two legislative aides, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found in a review of salaries from dozens of state agencies that responded to right-to-know requests in February and March.

Salaries from Lehigh Carbon Community College are not included because the school declined to provide the information. The Post-Gazette has appealed its decision to the state Office of Open Records, which is expected to rule soon.

Similar research two years ago by The Patriot-News of Harrisburg found that 79 employees were paid more than the governor in 2007, when his pay was $164,396. At that time, 550 were paid more than $150,000, and 3,030 more than $100,000.

In many cases, employees are being paid tens of thousands more than the executives and administrators who supervise them.

"Astounding, isn't it?" said Barry Kauffman, head of the watchdog group Common Cause Pennsylvania. "When you start getting paid more than the governor, there's an awful lot of scrutiny that needs to be undertaken ... It may be time to start looking at what's appropriate."

House Republican chief legal counsel Brett O. Feese's salary is $197,000 a year. That's $83,500 more than his boss, Republican Leader Sam Smith.

Clarion University Professor Thomas R. Vilberg also is paid tens of thousands more than his boss, Clarion President Joseph P. Grunenwald. Mr. Vilberg is paid $217,882, while Mr. Grunenwald is paid $191,910.

The professor's base pay is $107,000, but he and many others in the State System of Higher Education receive extra pay for teaching during the summer, serving as department heads or taking on more than the contractually required 12 credits -- typically four courses -- per semester.

"If they teach one extra class a semester plus teach a summer load, they're increasing their salaries by more than 50 percent," said Kenn Marshall, spokesman for the State System of Higher Education. In a few cases, privately funded research grants add to base salaries, he said.

Mr. Marshall said it's unfair to compare salaries in higher education with those in other sectors of state government.

"Yes, they're higher than other state employees, but you have to look at what public university employees make nationwide," he said.

Chancellor Cavanaugh's salary is less than the national average for heads of state university systems nationwide, which the Chronicle of Higher Education reported last year as $359,570.

"His selection was the result of a national search. We are competing nationwide so our salaries have to be competitive," Mr. Marshall said. "If we're going to get outstanding candidates [for administrative jobs] we have to put together a good compensation package."

Mr. Kauffman said there are other intrinsic benefits to government jobs that should compensate for pay that may be less competitive than in the private sector. Among them is job security, he said. A business might close, but government won't shut down and its checks won't bounce, he said.

He acknowledged that Mr. Rendell has floated the possibility of laying off state employees to make ends meet in the strained state budget.

Still, he said, "Vulnerability [to job loss] is somewhat limited because the state has unlimited abilities to tax. That does provide job protection."

Times now are extraordinary, though, he said. People are losing their jobs, businesses are closing, the tax base is shrinking and people are less and less able to bear tax increases, he said.

Scholars point to other intangible factors that draw people to government jobs.

"Some of the draw is to be a part of policy making and decision making and being able to fulfill their vision of a good society," said George Dougherty Jr., professor of public and urban affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

"On the other side, how much you get paid is one of those markers society uses to determine how successful we are, so people do want to be paid close to market rates," even if that means paying department heads more than the governor, he said.

The governor, of course, has extraordinary benefits that include the use of a 32-room residence in Harrisburg.

The Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System has several employees who are paid much more that Mr. Rendell. Chief investment director Alan Van Noord is paid more than $250,000 and three managing directors, also known as investment officers, are paid more than $200,000 a year.

While their compensation is higher than most other state workers, PSERS investment professionals save millions for the Commonwealth each year by managing nearly a third of investments in-house, said agency spokeswoman Evelyn Tatkovski. PSERS investments consistently produce returns above the median for public pension plans, she said.

"PSERS' compensation for its investment staff is structured to help maintain talent and prevent other [investment] funds from luring away key staff," said spokeswoman Evelyn Tatkovski. "If PSERS' investment staff leave to pursue higher paid jobs, it would become increasingly difficult to hire similarly qualified individuals to replace them at current compensation levels."

A 2006 study commissioned by PSERS showed that the agency's investment officers were being paid 10 percent less than those of similar public pension funds and 65 percent less than those in the private sector, Ms. Tatkovski said.

California's state teachers' retirement system, for example, pays its CEO $684,523 a year and its chief investment officer $665,453, The Sacramento Bee reported earlier this month. Dozens of other California state workers -- including dentists, physicians and actuaries -- are paid more than $300,000.

It never hurts to re-examine employee compensation packages, activists, academics and government leaders agree.

"You may have to pay people closer to market rates, but at the same time you have to be constrained so you're responsible to taxpayers," said Pitt's Dr. Dougherty. "You have to find a balance between paying close enough to market rates while making sure taxpayers aren't feeling the pain."

Frank Donaghue is executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. A chart that appeared with the online version of this story about state employees as originally published Mar. 29, 2009 incorrectly listed Mr. Donaghue's agency affiliation.
Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College received a $197,270 salary and $30,000 bonus last year.