The Arkansas Economic Development Commission is hiring Cornelius Schnitzler to run the commission's reopened European office, according to contract information reviewed by lawmakers Tuesday.
He will be paid $230,000 to run the European office from Germany. That amount includes his salary, and money for travel and to run the office.
Schnitzler is the right person for the job because of his "established relationships that AEDC would like to capitalize on," Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the commission, wrote in an email.
"Mr. Schnitzler is a German national with a background in economics and trade," Hardin said. "He is fluent in German, English and French."
Schnitzler attended the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of Gottingen in Germany, according to his Facebook page. In Germany, he focused on health economics and experimental economics, according to a university Web page.
The Economic Development Commission previously had a European office in Brussels, but it was closed during Gov. Mike Huckabee's tenure.
Hardin wouldn't speculate about why the office was initially closed.
"I do know around the time that office closed, AEDC had more of a focus on Asia," he said. "Since the Brussels office closed, we have opened an office in China and still maintain our office in Japan. We also see a lot of opportunity in Europe right now and look forward to establishing new relationships through this new office."
Schnitzler's contract is listed as a "special procurement" and was not competitively bid. Hardin said Schnitzler has established relationships on which the commission would like to capitalize.
It "would not be in the best interest of the State to attempt to procure a consultant with those relationships through competitive procurement," Hardin said in his email. "Arkansas would be at a competitive disadvantage against any economic rivals if we publicized the potential prospects it was seeking access to and/or its strategic plans for getting access to those prospective companies."
The contract was reviewed without discussion by lawmakers who are on the Review Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council.
Metro on 05/18/2016