Posted on 02/19/2008 5:41:35 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO
The state Senate on Tuesday approved Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of veteran state employee Joan Borucki as director of the California Lottery, despite criticism of an expensive staff dinner held by the lottery last fall.
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, said Borucki's initial reaction was to try to shirk responsibility for holding the dinner to commemorate the lottery's $20 billion contribution to schools.
"In retrospect, she's taken full responsibility, deemed it an inappropriate activity and assured us it would never happen again," Perata said before the Senate voted 32-3 to confirm the appointment.
The dinner, held last November at a Sacramento hotel, featured prime rib meals, a mock Big Spin game and prizes for employees that included a Nintendo Wii, iPods, digital cameras and gift cards to Best Buy and Borders.
State Controller John Chiang said the dinner expenses appear to be an improper gift of public money and ordered an audit to determine the full cost of the dinner.
He also told Borucki in a Jan. 22 letter that he would seek reimbursement of $14,921 that his office had already paid out for the dinner under the assumption the money was for "legitimate lottery business."
He warned Borucki that she could be held personally liable for the amount.
A spokeswoman for Chiang, Hallye Jordan, said the controller's office also identified another $25,570 in expenses for the dinner and "similar events" that had not been paid by Chiang.
In a Jan. 24 letter responding to Chiang, Borucki said she was confident the audit would find that the dinner expenses were allowed under the Lottery Act. She also said the controller's office had cleared similar expenses in past years.
"It is common for elected officials and state government employees to treat the lottery similarly to other government agencies," she wrote. "However, the lottery was created by voters as a unique business enterprise within state government when they passed Proposition 37 in 1984."
Schwarzenegger appointed Borucki to the lottery post last February. She previously served as acting director and chief deputy director of the lottery, chairwoman of the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, director of the Department of Motor Vehicles, chief deputy director of the California Transportation Commission and deputy district director for planning with the Department of Transportation.
Her annual salary with the state lottery is $133,732. Gubernatorial appointees can serve up to a year without Senate approval.
With a record like hers, sounds like she’s qualified to be on the state gambling commission! ;-)
She’s also the one that turned over the State Lotto to the Italian firm, with no scrutiny:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1747918/posts
Good thing they got her out of the DMV where she wanted to impose a mileage tax. Remember that?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1286268/posts
Democrats... just doing the jobs that Arnold won’t appoint Republicans to do. ;-)
Thanks, remember both of those little items.
Where does the Gub find all these folks anyway? ;-)
The Bonnie Reiss/Susan Kennedy Employment and Referral Center?
California is the golden goose. She only plucked a few feathers, compared to the rest of the crooks in the government.
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