CA: Conservancy Spending Assailed - Audit says that mountains agency misused $7 million

Los Angeles Times ^ | June 6, 2004 | Sue Fox and Andrew Blankstein

[calcowgirl]

A state audit has accused the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy of mismanaging $7 million in voter-approved bond money that was supposed to be used to acquire and restore parkland.

In a scathing report, Department of Finance auditors found that the conservancy “does not adequately manage, control, or oversee” $115 million in bond funds, funneling away money to pay for legal fees, office expenses, conferences, cars, travel, vacation and sick pay, and “excessive” overhead charges.

“In our opinion, they’re not spending funds in line with the bond measures,” said Samuel E. Hull, chief of the Office of State Audits and Evaluations. “Some of the things they did I’ve never seen before. They are creative, I’ll give them that.”

(snip)

State auditors have chided the conservancy in the past. In 1997, an audit found that the agency had paid $2.2 million in interest because it used promissory notes to acquire land rather than buying it outright.

The May audit was particularly critical of the close ties between the conservancy and the authority, a joint powers authority that the conservancy created 19 years ago to manage its land acquisitions. Edmiston directs both groups, and the auditors found that the relationship “compromises both organizations’ ability to adequately protect the bond funds from waste, abuse or irregularities.”

[calcowgirl]

IMO, this audit didn't go deep enough into the SMMC. I'd like to see those land deals... and how many hands they passed through. Did Gray Davis ever release that appraisal for the Ballona Wetlands? That was another swift move by Gary Winnick and his partners... at the expense of taxpayers. Barbra Streisand donated land to the SMMC for a tax write-off... at a couple million ABOVE the listed price (she had it on the market for some time with no buyers).

Please folks.... write your Senator! And call the Governor's office. We don't need more conservancies!

[calcowgirl]

New articles on Sierra Nevada posted (on same thread):

Sierra Conservancy bills seek funding for range (Sierra Sun)

Editorial: A Jewel Worth Protecting (LA Times)

[farmfriend]

I was going to call you to all the threads showing corruption by the Nature Conservancy, they are numerous, but decided I would call you to the ones just in CA. This is what we can expect not what was promised.