I do and thanks for noticing.
Damage is good for a controller, I'd say it's up there especially on single targets where Poison comes into its own but that's from my "seat of pants" expertise, I've got no empirical data. It is one of the most fun sets to play IMO.
Recharge isn't an issue. Because the primary pet is a summon and forget there's no need to aim for perma- anything, so when constructing a build I make no special provision for it.
As an aside, back on Live EU servers, a Thugs/Poison MM was considered to be one of the best AV killers in game given that Poison does so much debuff to single target foes and the pets (especially Gang War) allowed the Player to remain relatively unhurt