"The biggest problem is to figure out what to do with all of the money."

Charter Communications President and CEO Neil Smit steered his company straight into bankruptcy, and still got paid double his salary he earned the year before.

Charter, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection March 27th in order to rid itself of a pesky $8 BILLION dollars in debt apparently is no reason Smit should not get a doubling of his salary, becoming the highest paid executive in St. Louis and walking home with briefcases stuffed with $7.4 million in salary, bonus, non-equity/”cash” incentives and other goodies and perks.

But this Money Party is just getting started for Smit and his pals at Charter.  In a convenient move just two weeks before the company ran crying for protection from big bad creditors, Charter established some new executive incentives designed to reward the same guy in charge of the company when it went bankrupt with up to a $6 million dollar bonus if he helps the company find its way off the courthouse steps and back into regular business.  But he also apparently deserves a bonus on top of his bonus — the company will also pay him an additional $2.5 million in annual performance bonuses if he manages to actually… do his job.

Those that will help him in that endeavor are also set to be richly rewarded.  The company hired Gregory Doody in May as “chief restructuring officer” for a bargain: just $60,000 A MONTH, or $720,000 a year.

Smit got paid a pretty penny for joining Charter in 2008 in the first place, before the crash and burn, as the St. Louis Business Journal reports:

On top of his $1.34 million salary, Smit’s updated employment contract in 2008 provided him with a $2 million signing bonus and about $1.2 million in retention bonus pay. He earned about $2.8 million through Charter’s performance-based bonus plan. Although equity awards were not included in calculating the Business Journal’s highest-paid list, they brought the book value of Smit’s total compensation package to nearly $15.4 million.

We at Stop the Cap! believe in public service and doing the right thing, so we’re offering our free advice to help Charter restructure itself out of bankruptcy: fire the guy who shepherded the company there in the first place.

Charter Communications is going to have some major competition in the Massachusetts city of Groton over the next year as city officials signed a 15-year franchise agreement with Verizon Communications to bring the fiber-to-the-home service to area residents.

Verizon promised to introduce FiOS service to area residents immediately, with a build out to nearby communities taking place over a four year period.  The deal brings competitive choice to Groton, which until now has relied exclusively on Charter Cable for cable television service.

Verizon agreed to spend $112,500 to outfit four locations with broadcast equipment and provide three public access channels.  Equipment will be installed at the Town Hall for local government coverage, the local public library, the middle school Performing Arts Center and a nearby senior center.  The franchise fee will be 4.2% of local earnings and a 50 cent fee per subscriber per year, all paid to Groton’s local government.

The loudest complaint came from one resident who wanted to know why service might not be immediately available on his street.  He told local officials Charter had the “worst service” on his street and wanted the Verizon alternative immediately.