Posted on 10/27/2005 11:48:46 AM PDT by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO — A second controversial figure in the Schwarzenegger administration's battle against a lawsuit that seeks to shut down Mega Millions lotto as illegal quietly shifted jobs Wednesday to a tiny, obscure job-training panel.
Schwarzenegger's former acting lottery director, Chon Gutierrez, quit in August while under political and legal fire for engineering California's entrance into the multi-state lotto game earlier this year.
On Wednesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's aides confirmed his special adviser to the $3 billion-a-year lottery, Kim Smith, who misrepresented herself as a reporter to gain information against the lawsuit, has been appointed assistant director of the $80 million-a-year Employment Training Panel.
Smith did not return phone calls to the panel.
A Schwarzenegger aide said the governor accepted her apology and promoted her, while lawmakers and the lottery's legal foes said they believe she was fired from the lottery and shuffled into a low-profile bureaucratic job.
"It goes beyond reason why this administration prefers to have an impersonator on its payroll," said Sen. Dean Florez, a Bakersfield Democrat whose committee oversees the lottery.
Initially, chief Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson condemned Smith's masquerade as a reporter at a Capitol news conference, held by the anti-gambling group that had challenged Mega Millions as unconstitutional because it was not approved by voters or lawmakers.
"The governor absolutely believes people need to represent themselves according to their professional affiliation," Thompson said.
In addition, the Capitol Correspondents Association of California sent the administration a letter of protest about Smith's actions.
But on Wednesday, Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Julie Soderlund said the governor had "accepted her apology," has been "happy with her service" and "is promoting her into another position within the administration."
Smith's salary of $81,000 will increase to $82,000, Soderlund said.
Officials at the lottery and Employment Training Panel did not return phone queries, deferring comment to the governor's office.
Florez said that "it is an ethical stumble on behalf of the administration to continue to promote someone who, under her official capacity, bold-faced lied and impersonated a reporter, violating all professional conduct."
"It quite clearly says that if you're a good liar and can make up false identities, there's a place for you in the Schwarzenegger administration," said Florez.
Fred Jones, the Sacramento area attorney for Californians Against Gambling Expansion, which filed suit, said the lottery has been trying to block questioning of top lottery officials in another show of their "above-the-law mentality."
"It's interesting that the lottery director and his most senior adviser have both left the lottery since their controversial decision to enter Mega Millions," Jones said.
"Both were instrumental in pushing forward with this questionable venture, and both invited controversy by their actions and words in defense of this decision, including the former director admitting Mega Millions was a 'risk,'" he said.
Jones' co-counsel, Woodland Hills attorney Nick Roxborough, said a court hearing in the challenge of Mega Millions has been scheduled for Dec. 2.
$80 million-a-year Employment Training Panel ???
huh,, to train lottery employees or users or ???
80 million?
They don't have any money for FPPC, but....
http://www.etp.cahwnet.gov/
Employment Training Panel
Today's high-tech, global and increasingly competitive economy requires California workers and employers to have the most advanced skills and tools available to succeed. That is why effective job training is more essential today than ever before. Leading California's job training effort is the Employment Training Panel (ETP), the joint business-labor supported state agency that provides training funds which improve the productivity and competitiveness of California business, while providing secure employment for workers.
ETP is a California State agency that began in 1983 and is designed to fund training that meets the needs of employers for skilled workers and the need of workers for good, long-term jobs. Our program supports the California economy, primarily by funding the retraining of incumbent, frontline workers in companies challenged by out-of-state competition. ETP also funds training for unemployed workers, and prioritizes small businesses, and employers and workers in high unemployment areas of the State.
Per The California Labor Federation website
ETP funds come solely from employer contributions. One-tenth of one percent of the first $7,000 of unemployment insurance (UI) wages paid by every private, for-profit employer (and some nonprofits) in the state is diverted into the Employment Training Fund. This amounts to no more than $7 per year per covered employee but generates between $85 to $100 million dollars in training funds per year.
The California Labor Federation
an AFL-CIO 'operation'.
never mind, it's all perfectly legit then.
Thanks
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