Update:

McGinn spokesperson Aaron Pickus sent an e-mail saying that senior-level positions are being cut. Details below the jump.If you skim through the Arts, Culture and Recreation section of Mayor Mike McGinn’s proposed budget–where he plans to drop the most pink slips–you’ll find librarians, secretaries, and janitors losing their jobs. In one page on the Parks and Recreation section, McGinn eliminates five maintenance workers, four painters, two metal fabricators, a carpenter, a drainage worker, an electrician, and an interdepartmental delivery driver. Only one person on that page carries the designation “strategic advisor.”Seems McGinn is backtracking on a campaign promise to let the axe fall most heavily on that last category.Strategic advisors, and a few similarly classified positions at City Hall, are non-unionized jobs for which the mayor, or other department heads, can hire and fire at will. In some cases the positions can be filled without going through any kind of formal process–like posting the job opening so the general public can apply–so they are often considered political appointees. While running for office, McGinn slammed then-Mayor Nickels for ballooning the number of strategic advisors and similarly classified employees in his administration from 241 in 2001 to 431 in 2008. McGinn said that if elected, he would “dramatically reduce the number of political appointees.”When he first came into office, McGinn proposed doing just that–saying he would cut 200 senior-level positions. But amid a public backlash from city employees, he backed down. Now McGinn is proposing to cut 294 positions, 214 of which are filled. But if the parks budget is any indication, its not the advisors who are getting the bulk of the pink slips.The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.Update:Pickus pointed to the Mayor’s budget overview which states that 64 of the total 294 positions the mayor proposes to cut are “senior level” employees. That number includes strategic advisors, managers, and executive appointees. “We will continue to work to reduce the number of these positions in the future,” Pickus adds.