Podectomy, as in “surgical removal of the foot from the mouth.” Seems CM Alvarado is in need of one. (Edit: It’s pod- not ped-. Not trying to suggest a child should be removed from her mouth.) In an article in today’s Chronicle Matt Stiles reports that not only did Hernandez get $47,500 in unauthorized bonuses, she also gave herself unauthorized raises of $21k total.
As the probe continued, the city’s legal department provided documents Tuesday showing that Hernandez’s base salary went up about 37 percent with two raises in early 2005, from $57,000 to $78,000.
And this was paid for by upping the budget for the office of the pro tem.
“The justification cited was increased costs of services and supplies,” said Frank Michel, White’s spokesman. “We don’t have any written documentation.”
Alvarado, whose district office is separate from that of the pro tem, said the extra money was a “restoration” to levels in previous administrations. The pro tem budget remained $260,000 during the past three years, but was more than $300,000 in the past, she said.
If that’s a restoration, clearly we need to look more closely at how the office was handled under previous administrations, since the mayor appoints the pro tem. Let’s see, who was our previous mayor… oh yeah, Outta Town Brown. Who “took the money and ran” along with all his cronies at the end of his last term.
She said the increase this year was requested by her mayor pro tem office manager, Rosita Hernandez, one of four employees who received bonuses city officials say were unauthorized. Hernandez’s $47,500 in 2005 bonuses boosted her total pay to $125,500, among the highest in city government.
WTF? Your office manager requests ~45% funding increase, and you don’t even check into it?
“I’m looking for something in writing that justifies the restoration of funds,” Alvarado said. “I wish I had access to those documents.”
Lady, I wish you’d bothered to access them back then! We might not have such, er, entertainment now if you had. And I generally avoid criticizing individual council members but Ms. Alvarado, do yourself a favor. Stick the foot in far enough where you can’t talk any more.
“It’s my office. It’s my name,” she said. “I don’t know why this $50,000, or $60,000, is such a big issue.”
This whole article is just full of little tidbits like that. Definately a must-read. But I’m wondering if maybe her hoof-n-mouth problem is contagious:
“I have to tell you, I was stunned that the pro tem office had such a substantial raise this year,” Councilwoman Pam Holm said Tuesday, noting that she didn’t notice it in the hustle of last year’s budget process.
Holm said council members should be accountable for all lines in the budget and suggested a study of whether the pro tem budget is too high.
Ok, I can sorta believe how one little line item can get by, but back up one paragraph, speaking about the council’s budget meeting last year:
The short session included a broad description of the overall City Council budget, with only vague details about the pro tem office. And council members asked few questions.
They “asked few questions” about the budget of a fellow council member and ally of the mayor. Gosh, how odd. Why do I have little faith in the idea of a whitewash study?
The other big thing that sticks out to me is this part, near the end:
Johnson, who oversees the city’s $3.2 billion budget, said then that a new position would be funded so the office would have a full-time budget analyst.
A staffer from Johnson’s department did begin working in the pro tem office part-time. And that staffer’s salary was paid by Finance and Administration, not the pro tem’s office.
That feeds right back into what I said the other day. We’ve cut staffing back too far. You can have too much oversight, but clearly, by reducing staffing to such low levels and concentrating power into so few hands, the last few administrations have made the city ripe for abuse. Now we rob Peter to pay Paul just so basic oversight can be done. And Peter’s pretty much tapped out. And the honesty of city employees is beginning to waver in the face of increasing economic pressures and inadequate compensation.
When asked if they ever expressed the idea that they thought they were underpaid, “Yes, two of them did,” she said.
According to sources, Lee’s successor Rosie Hernandez, told the three other staff members that they were going to make up for all the time they’d been underpaid.
The more this story develops, the more it looks like I was a damned prophet.
Edit: from a comment I made on 2/2/06:
One of the purposes of this blog is to change that; it’s my tiny little bully pulpit to point out an unhealthy trend in local government. One of the things that makes third-world countries so third-world is their endemic corruption. Everyone’s on the take, from the top to the bottom, and if you want to get anything done, you have to pay what amounts to extortion money to every petty clerk. We don’t want that here, but one way to guarantee we get it is to keep squeezing people until they crack, and decide that maybe their convictions are for sale after all. (I just don’t draw a line between doing it solo and doing it collectively as part of a union.)
And no, I didn’t have inside info, just a brain and the will to use it.
Update: Ms. Alvarado delivers an apology…. and a warning?
Councilwoman Carol Alvarado publicly apologized to her colleagues today, expressing concern that the investigation into employees receiving questionable bonuses might have disrupted council business.
Ah, but there’s always something more interesting as you keep reading…
Alvarado also urged her colleagues not to speculate about what happened while the investigation continues. She then repeated her contention that documents authorizing the payments were phony.
“Yeah, Pam Holm, I’m talking to you! Don’t start yapping like Khan and Goldberg.”
“I have been astonished and disappointed to discover how easy it was for someone to forge my initials and steal both taxpayer dollars and my personal reputation at the same time,” she said.
Can I recommend some light reading?
In response to reporters’ questions, Alvarado said she had no plans to step down from the pro tem role. None of her council colleagues has publicly called for her resignation. And Mayor Bill White, who appointed Alvarado to the job in 2004, answered “yes” today when asked whether he had confidence in Alvarado.
One big happy family! It’s so nice to know you can screw the pooch so royally and still have friends in high places.