The built-in raises took effect June 29, which Thompson said is why the position description didn’t include them.

The department provided a list of 27 IT managers in state government that were used to set Archer’s salary prior to the market and general wage adjustments. Archer’s salary would have been 11th highest on that list.

The documents show Archer sent an email expressing disappointment that only 15 people applied for the position, when the Department of Justice had 70 applicants for a similar position.

An interview panel comprising trial division deputy director Jennifer Bias, trial division director Catherine Dorl and retired IT manager Diane Kohn interviewed seven applicants and forwarded to Thompson two finalists — AhChung Ho, a private sector IT professional, and Linda Johnson, the interim IT director at the UW State Hygiene Lab.

Thompson said Archer was present for both finalist interviews. She said she didn’t hire Ho because he didn’t have experience in state government. And though Johnson had more IT experience than Archer going back to 1989, Thompson liked that Archer had helped write the department’s IT plan, had been involved in meetings on several IT-related projects and was familiar with the state’s STAR project to consolidate IT systems.