Former A&M official Jay Kimbrough gets new state job
Four months after pulling out a knife while being dismissed from his position as a top A&M System administrator, Jay Kimbrough, a good friend of Gov. Rick Perry, has landed another high-level state job.
The former deputy chancellor of the 11-university system was selected as assistant director for homeland security for the Texas Department of Public Safety, a spokesman confirmed. His salary will be $147,500 a year.
Though A&M System officials said in September that they had eliminated Kimbrough's position, he remained on the System's payroll for $300,000 a year through Jan. 18, a System spokesman confirmed Thursday.
Kimbrough did not respond to a message Thursday.
The decision to keep Kimbrough on the payroll was A&M System Chancellor John Sharp's, his spokesman, Steven Moore, said. Sharp wanted to respect Kimbrough's state retirement benefits, which depend on continuous state employment through later in the year, Moore said.
"The intent was to try to get to that point," Moore said.
But around the beginning of January, Moore said, the A&M System was informed that Kimbrough had landed a job at DPS and, after that, Jan. 18 was set as his last day at the A&M System.
The position that Kimbrough was hired for, however, wasn't created until weeks later, at a Jan. 26 meeting of the Public Safety Commission, a board of five members appointed by Perry. After the position was posted, 29 people applied.
"Jay Kimbrough will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge to the department and will be an invaluable asset to the Homeland Security office," DPS Director Steve McCraw said in a prepared statement.
Kimbrough has held several state executive jobs, including director of the Texas Commission on Private Security, executive director of the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse and director of the governor's homeland security office, which was transferred to DPS and is the office Kimbrough will be working in again.
The 64-year-old will serve as interim assistant director until Feb. 16, when the Public Safety Commission meets and is expected to formally approve his hiring, DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said. He'll be responsible for many of the daily operations of the homeland security office.
Kimbrough has bounced back and forth across various state jobs, including at the A&M System.
After he began working for the A&M System in July 2006 as deputy general counsel, Kimbrough left the system three times for other state jobs: to serve as Texas Youth Commission conservator in 2007, to serve as Perry's chief of staff in 2008, and to be part of a team to reform the Texas Department of Transportation in 2010.
After each job, he landed back at the A&M System.
The A&M System Board of Regents in 2009 hired him as "special adviser" to the board. In June, he was selected as interim chancellor and deputy chancellor of the A&M System after the departure of Mike McKinney.
After John Sharp was selected as chancellor in September, Kimbrough stayed on as deputy chancellor, or No. 2 in command of the System.
Sharp, the state's former comptroller, immediately conducted a review of his office and determined that Kimbrough's position was no longer needed, he said in an email at the time.
On Sept. 21, two System lawyers, Scott Kelly and General Counsel Ray Bonilla, called Kimbrough into the general counsel's conference room in the A&M System building in south College Station.
When Bonilla told Kimbrough his position was being eliminated, the motorcycle enthusiast pulled out his pocketknife in a non-threatening way, according to a police report, and said "Bring it on."
Kimbrough said it was a joke he regrets. Police were called, but no charges were filed.
