Auditor reports contract lapses by Reiner panel (Meathead spent the tobacco settlement on friends)

state commission chaired by Hollywood entertainer Rob Reiner suffered from lapses in its contracting, failed to properly award millions of dollars and did not adequately justify many of its payments, according to a state audit released today.

The nonpartisan California Bureau of State Audits found that the California Children and Families Commission, also known as the California First 5 Commission, used tax money to overpay for some services and failed to follow state rules when it awarded some contracts.

Did not follow state policy when it used a competitive process to award three contracts valued at more than $47.7 million and failed to provide sufficient justification for awarding one $3 million contract and six amendments totaling $27.6 million using the noncompetitive process.

Paid $1.2 million more than it should have for administrative overhead because it did not follow state policy that limits such payments.

Paid invoices totaling $673,000 in 2002 and 2003 for fees and expenses of a contractor's employees. These payments violated the contract, "effectively preventing these funds from being used to further other activities that were allowable under the terms of the contract."

Such problems "caused the state commission to make some questionable payments to contractors for items such as laptop computers valued at $10,000, food catering costs and monthly parking fees," the audit said.

After a six-month investigation, the audit team concluded that the commission violated no laws when it aired television commercials last winter touting the benefits of preschool at the same time Reiner began a campaign to place an initiative on the state ballot to create universal preschool. Voters rejected that initiative, Proposition 82, in June.

"Our review determined that the state commission had clear legal authority to conduct its public advertising campaigns related to preschool," the auditors found.

What a bunch of hogwash! What he did was clearly WRONG. If it was not illegal, then the law needs to be changed to eliminate whatever weasle-words exist that allow this.

http://www.bsa.ca.gov/reports/summary.php?id=516

California State Auditor/Bureau of State Audits
Summary of Report 2006-114 - October 2006

California Children and Families Commission:
Its Poor Contracting Practices Resulted in Questionable and Inappropriate Payments to Contractors and Violations of State Law and Policies

AUDIT HIGHLIGHTS

Our review of the California Children and Families Commission's spending practices and contracting procedures revealed that it:

Allowed one of its media contractors to circumvent the payment provisions of a contract by paying invoices totaling $673,000 for fees and expenses of some of the contractor's employees that were prohibited under the terms of the contract.

Did not fully use the tools available to it to ensure its contractors provided appropriate services.

Could not always demonstrate it had reviewed and approved final written subcontracts and subcontractors' conflict-of-interest certificates.

Did not always follow state policy when it used a competitive process to award three of the contracts valued at more than $47.7 million and failed to provide sufficient justification for awarding one $3 million contract and six amendments totaling $27.6 million using the noncompetitive process.

Did not always ensure that its interagency agreements met the state requirement for using subcontractors.

Agreed to pay $1.2 million more than it should have for administrative overhead because it did not follow state policy that limits such payments.

Intentionally used some memorandums of understanding with counties to avoid having to comply with state contracting requirements.

Had clear authority to conduct its advertising campaigns relating to preschool, these advertisements and their timing were consistent with legal restrictions on the use of public funds and did not contribute any of its public funds to campaign accounts used to support the various ballot measures.

Its payments to three individuals who worked for the media contractor were generally consistent with the restrictions related to the use of public funds for political purposes. However, for a period of almost four months in 2004, the state commission could not demonstrate that these payments were appropriate.

(snip)

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