CALIFORNIA: Spending by prison care overseer questioned

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 2/28/8 | Tom Chorneau

[SmithL]

Sacramento -- The former federal receiver hired to improve California's troubled prison health care system misspent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars before being fired last month, according to a state inspector general's report released Wednesday.

Robert Sillen, who once threatened to "back up the Brink's truck" to the state's treasury to get the money needed to provide better inmate care, authorized $218,790 in overpayments to staff members for benefits such as health insurance and retirement that they already received, said the report, which found no evidence of fraud.

In addition to millions spent on consultants and professional services, the analysis of Sillen's first 15 months on the job, from April 2006 to June 2007, also found lavish staff salaries including Sillen's own compensation of $605,468 during the period.

Inspector General Matthew Cate also found numerous instances where travel and entertainment expenses were improperly reimbursed, including a $740 outing hosted by Sillen last February at a Sacramento steakhouse. Sillen could not provide an original receipt, a list of guests or the business purpose, the report said.

Questions were also raised about $13,000 spent to provide 1,875 tote bags to prison nurses that included the inscription: "Correctional Nursing - excellence begins with caring."

Sillen, a former Santa Clara County health care director, was fired last month by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, largely over Sillen's confrontational approach with state officials. At the time, the judge said the receiver's office would need a different style of "collaborative leadership" to "work more closely at this stage with all stakeholders, including state officials."

[SmithL]

Send the bill to this guy:

---

Henderson, Thelton Eugene

Born 1933 in Shreveport, LA

Federal Judicial Service:
Judge, U. S. District Court, Northern District of California
Nominated by Jimmy Carter on May 9, 1980, to a seat vacated by Cecil F. Poole; Confirmed by the Senate on June 26, 1980, and received commission on June 30, 1980. Served as chief judge, 1990-1997. Assumed senior status on November 28, 1998.

Education:
University of California, Berkeley, B.A., 1956

University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1962

Professional Career:
U.S. Army Corporal, 1956-1958
Attorney, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1962-1963
Private practice, Oakland, California, 1964-1966
Directing attorney, East Bayshore Neighborhood Legal Center, East Palo Alto, California, 1966-1969
Assistant dean, Stanford Law School, 1968-1977
Private practice, San Francisco, California, 1977-1980
Associate professor, Golden Gate University School of Law, 1978-1980

Race or Ethnicity: African American

Gender: Male

[kellynla]

wanna cut prison costs...deport the incarcerated illegals...
next...

of course, we’re gonna have to BUILD A FENCE & SECURE THE BORDERS FIRST...hello? is anyone home at the WH?

[Syncro]

Calif politics is rife with monetary corruption

And the schools are letting teachers go and changing classroom size from 20 to 32.

Back where it was years ago.

The schools are complaining that Arnold won’t give them enough money.

They aren’t worth it for how they educate anyway.

They should bring the corruption of the State Gov to the forefront and expose it, and get money that way.

Oh, wait the schools are ripe with corruption too. They can't do that, they will be caught.

I'm sure glad the had plenty of money to buy books for all the schools to teach our children how to be good little homosexuals.

8% tax on gasoline, the revenues from that must be staggering high, it goes into the General Fund. Governor “Richy Rich” Arnold’s private pocket change vault.