See all posts re First Five.
Director of First 5 LA resigns following audit
November 11, 2011
Joanna Lin
California Watch
Evelyn Martinez, executive director of First 5 LA, resigned late yesterday, less than three weeks after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors started the legal process to take over the independent agency that uses tobacco taxes to fund early childhood development programs.
The Board of Supervisors' 4-1 vote Oct. 25 asking the county counsel to initiate the process followed an independent audit that found First 5 lacked oversight of its expenditures, was overstaffed and failed to adequately monitor its contracts.
The agency's board of commissioners, which is led by county Supervisor Michael Antonovich and includes five members appointed by the Board of Supervisors, met in a closed session yesterday and "decided that it was time for new leadership here at First 5 LA," Martinez said to agency staff in an e-mail obtained by California Watch.
Martinez, who has been First 5 LA's top executive since its inception, could not be reached for comment.
In a statement issued to California Watch, Antonovich's staff said: "The projects and operations of First 5 will proceed uninterrupted. Existing grants, contracts, partnerships and initiatives are unaffected by this change."
Related
Pay for First 5 directors varies widely by county
Brown sends mixed message on First 5 funds
More First 5 groups challenge state budget
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The board of commissioners will meet next week to appoint an interim CEO and has directed agency staff to continue working in its existing organizational structure under the supervision of Antonovich and First 5 LA attorney Craig Steele, the statement said.
First 5 LA is the largest of 58 county commissions established after voters approved Proposition 10 in 1998. The initiative placed a 50-cent tax on tobacco products and has generated about $7.3 billion to date. In fiscal year 2009-10, First 5 LA counted nearly $146 million in revenue, doled out more than $157 million in grants and employed 103 people, records show.
In her e-mail, Martinez said she believed she had "more than accomplished" her mission to "build a strong organization that would be staffed with the best and brightest of staff who were committed to helping those children and families in greatest need, and certainly of highest risk."
She also alluded to the agency's uncertain future. In addition to a possible county takeover, First 5 LA is at risk of losing about $450 million in a state budget raid. Lawsuits challenging the funding shift have been filed by several commissions, including First 5 LA, and are pending as a consolidated case in Fresno County Superior Court.
"I know that there is a lot of concern about the future of First 5 LA," Martinez said. "I urge each and every one of you to stay positive about the future, and to keep working as hard as you always have. I hope to stay in touch with many of you, and I am certain our paths will cross again since my interest and passion will remain in being of service to those less fortunate than ourselves."
It was the state funding diversion that prompted First 5 LA commissioners to unanimously authorize an independent audit in February. Antonovich proposed the audit to determine how much money the agency had available – a figure that state officials and commissions have disagreed on.
The audit [PDF] was delivered in two reports – the second [PDF] of which was presented Oct. 25. County supervisors said the findings were shocking.
"The current status of affairs at First 5 is unacceptable," Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at the meeting. "The lack of accountability, the lack of competition in proposals, the lack of information sharing between the staff and the commission itself … any one of these things would be a bell and a whistle. And all of them together is a siren."
In a motion [PDF] introduced by Supervisors Antonovich and Mark Ridley-Thomas, supervisors instructed county staff to return to the board in 30 days with an amendment to establish First 5 LA as a county agency and a transition plan.
Supervisor Gloria Molina, First 5 LA's immediate past chairwoman, was the board's lone dissenter.
"This is clearly a takeover," she said. "It doesn't have anything to do with the audit whatsoever."
First 5 LA criticized the audit, conducted by Harvey M. Rose Associates, as employing "half-truths, faulty assumptions and misleading information to paint a captiously inaccurate picture of First 5 LA's internal financial accounting – which has been recognized with three government accounting excellence awards."
The audit, First 5 LA staff continued, "presupposes a variety of incorrect assumptions that may lead the reader and members of the public to false and damaging conclusions."
First 5 LA would not be the first county commission to go from independent to county status. The Riverside County Children & Families Commission underwent the same transition a few years ago, said Sherry Novick, executive director of the First 5 Association of California, a membership group.
"LA is a very complicated county, and it's not surprising that different people have different thoughts about what should happen," Novick said. "I think (Martinez) put together a large and vibrant organization."
Martinez was among the most highly paid First 5 directors. In 2009-10, she received a salary of $232,178, a $6,000 car allowance, a $10,000 performance bonus and $20,785 in benefits: health, dental, vision and life insurance, employee counseling and deferred compensation.
Showing posts with label First 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First 5. Show all posts
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Self-dealing discovered among First 5 commissioners in San Diego
See all posts re First Five.
What if First 5 commissioners had really gone out looking for dedicated individuals who want to teach children? Maybe education in California would start to turn around.
I first read this story moments after finishing this post about the relationship between Chula Vista Elementary School District and the YMCA. Now I discover that the YMCA is involved in another scandal.
Deeper conflicts emerge in First 5 funding
Groups tied to advisers see millions in grants
By Jeff McDonald,
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 4, 2009
Background: First 5 San Diego Commissioner Charlene Tressler resigned Sunday, as questions arose about $8.3 million in agency grants paid to a charity and a private preschool run by Tressler.
What's new: The group's awarding of $67 million to organizations that employ its main advisory committee members also is raising questions.
Funds from First 5 San Diego awarded to organizations with ties to the commission's advisory committee, for the past three fiscal years:
2005-06: $33.76 million out of $90.93 million, or 37.1 percent of grant money given
2006-07: $10.16 million out of $22.9 million, or 44.4 percent
2007-08: $23.56 million out of $39.56 million, or 59.6 percent
The county's First 5 Commission has awarded at least $67 million in the past three years to nonprofits and other groups that employ people who serve on its top advisory committee, according to an analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The share of early childhood grants given to groups with ties to insiders has grown over the years, from 37.1 percent three years ago to 59.6 percent last year, the newspaper found.
The findings show that conflicts of interest at the agency go deeper than those of former Commissioner Charlene Tressler, who resigned Sunday as the newspaper prepared a report about First 5 funds granted to the charity that employs her.
Robert Fellmeth, a University of San Diego law professor and director of the Center for Public Interest Law, said public officials should know better than to steer so much money to groups with which they have close relationships.
“If you're making a decision on the allocation of public money, you or your direct employer or your personal interests should not be enriched by it,” Fellmeth said.
County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Dianne Jacob chairs the First 5 Commission by virtue of her county post...
Jacob said it's time for “a complete housecleaning” within the organization... “It's the perception of a conflict of interest, even though the advisory committee does not make decisions.”
[Maura Larkins' comment: This reminds of the Voice of San Diego story about San Diego County Office of Education Superintendent Randolph Ward's claim that he makes decisions about hiring. SDCOE is also involved in this scandal.]
...Tressler cited health reasons in her letter of resignation Sunday, which the county made public Tuesday. County officials knew the Union-Tribune was planning to report about Tressler's votes in favor of a preschool program that sent more than $8 million to a charity she runs in Chula Vista.
In giving grants, Tressler and her colleagues relied on advice from a First 5 committee of experts...
[Maura Larkins' comment: Did they bend her elbow to make her give money to herself?]
Of $153.39 million given out, at least $67.48 million went to groups with that inside track. That's 44 percent.
Last year, the commission in part awarded $7 million to St. Vincent de Paul, $6 million to the San Diego County Office of Education and $3 million to YMCA Childcare Resource Service, all of which employ advisory committee members.
Michael Carr is the longtime executive director of SAY San Diego, which provides a variety of youth services and receives money from First 5. Carr is also a member of the First 5 Commission's advisory and finance committees.
Carr said he and other volunteers are aware of the potential for conflicting interests, but he noted that committee members are seated because of their expertise and they have no authority to spend money.
“It's a question of who's interested in this sort of public policy,” said Carr, who said he would quit the committee rather than stop delivering the services he provides with First 5 revenue.
“It's not my sense the majority of folks on (the advisory committee) agree to spend that amount of time because of funding opportunities,” Carr said.
Joan Zinser, interim First 5 San Diego executive director, would not directly say why so many commission grants were paid to groups with representatives on the advisory committee. Zinser said only that they are “hands-on providers, dealing directly with families we serve.”
Supervisor Ron Roberts, who last served as First 5 chair in 2007, said the distributions represent “a major conflict of interest” and the system of rotating First 5 chairs based on the supervisor chairmanship needs to be re-evaluated.
“The serial chair almost guarantees you have chairs coming in that don't have a good enough grasp to effect the change you need,” said Roberts, who last month publicly criticized the commission for sitting on a $200 million bank balance.
Proposition 10 deemed that there would be independent commissions in each county so that First 5 spending decisions would be local, rather than fall to state political leaders...
Sherry Novick, who runs the First 5 Association of California trade group, said... early-childhood experts in any region are too valuable as resources to exclude from programs simply because they also serve as advisers.
“Frequently, the best provider is the one who's done it the most,” said Novick, who offers regular training sessions for commissioners on avoiding conflicts of interest...
[Maura Larkins to Sherry Novick: Do they do it the most because they have friends in high places? Which came first, the political connections or the contracts?]
Other First 5 commissions around the state also have been criticized for awarding contracts to groups that advise the panels...
2005-06 grants
2006-07 grants
2007-08 grants
FIRST 5 TIES
Some of the organizations that received First 5 San Diego funds in 2008 and the commission advisers who work for them:
St. Vincent de Paul: $7 million, Ruth Newton
San Diego County Office of Education: $6 million, Linda Scarpa
Rady Children's Hospital: $3.6 million, Kristin Gist
YMCA Childcare Resource Service: $3 million, Debbie Macdonald
Family Health Centers of San Diego: $2.3 million, Fran Butler-Cohen
Palomar Pomerado Health: $1.7 million, Annamarie Martinez
SAY San Diego: $1.7 million, Michael Carr
"First 5" RELATED LINK
Watchdog Report ♦ Member of First 5 Commission steps down: Tressler reportedly had conflict of interest
"First 5" EARLIER STORY:
First 5's fund focus of county attention
By Jeff McDonald, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
May 24, 2009
FIRST 5 SAN DIEGO
Created in 1999 after California voters approved Proposition 10, imposing tobacco taxes to fund early-childhood programs.
The five-member commission is appointed by the county Board of Supervisors. The board chair serves as head of the commission.
State voters last week rejected the idea of taking First 5 early-childhood funds to help balance the budget, but in San Diego County, the Board of Supervisors may find a way to do it anyway.
County Supervisor Ron Roberts singled out First 5 San Diego earlier this month as he and his colleagues sliced 771 positions from the county work force and a handful of programs that help poor children.
“I was shocked to find that the First 5 commission has $200 million in the bank,” Roberts said. “That is not a prudent reserve; that is a sinful reserve. There's something seriously wrong with that organization.”
Roberts suggested that First 5 San Diego pay the $340,000 needed to keep open the county's Child Health and Youth Clinics program, which serves about 1,750 patients every year but is now slated to close June 12. Community clinics will be asked to pick up the slack.
...[Dianne] Jacob defended the healthy bank balance and said the amount of unencumbered money the commission has is actually closer to $75 million...
For starters, longtime Executive Director Laura Spiegel resigned days after a March meeting. The commission made no public announcement, and Jacob declined to discuss the reason for Spiegel's departure.
Former county Health and Human Services Agency official Joan Zinser has taken the reins on an interim basis. Jacob said the commission expects to name a permanent successor later this year...
What if First 5 commissioners had really gone out looking for dedicated individuals who want to teach children? Maybe education in California would start to turn around.
I first read this story moments after finishing this post about the relationship between Chula Vista Elementary School District and the YMCA. Now I discover that the YMCA is involved in another scandal.
Deeper conflicts emerge in First 5 funding
Groups tied to advisers see millions in grants
By Jeff McDonald,
San Diego Union-Tribune
June 4, 2009
Background: First 5 San Diego Commissioner Charlene Tressler resigned Sunday, as questions arose about $8.3 million in agency grants paid to a charity and a private preschool run by Tressler.
What's new: The group's awarding of $67 million to organizations that employ its main advisory committee members also is raising questions.
Funds from First 5 San Diego awarded to organizations with ties to the commission's advisory committee, for the past three fiscal years:
2005-06: $33.76 million out of $90.93 million, or 37.1 percent of grant money given
2006-07: $10.16 million out of $22.9 million, or 44.4 percent
2007-08: $23.56 million out of $39.56 million, or 59.6 percent
The county's First 5 Commission has awarded at least $67 million in the past three years to nonprofits and other groups that employ people who serve on its top advisory committee, according to an analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The share of early childhood grants given to groups with ties to insiders has grown over the years, from 37.1 percent three years ago to 59.6 percent last year, the newspaper found.
The findings show that conflicts of interest at the agency go deeper than those of former Commissioner Charlene Tressler, who resigned Sunday as the newspaper prepared a report about First 5 funds granted to the charity that employs her.
Robert Fellmeth, a University of San Diego law professor and director of the Center for Public Interest Law, said public officials should know better than to steer so much money to groups with which they have close relationships.
“If you're making a decision on the allocation of public money, you or your direct employer or your personal interests should not be enriched by it,” Fellmeth said.
County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Dianne Jacob chairs the First 5 Commission by virtue of her county post...
Jacob said it's time for “a complete housecleaning” within the organization... “It's the perception of a conflict of interest, even though the advisory committee does not make decisions.”
[Maura Larkins' comment: This reminds of the Voice of San Diego story about San Diego County Office of Education Superintendent Randolph Ward's claim that he makes decisions about hiring. SDCOE is also involved in this scandal.]
...Tressler cited health reasons in her letter of resignation Sunday, which the county made public Tuesday. County officials knew the Union-Tribune was planning to report about Tressler's votes in favor of a preschool program that sent more than $8 million to a charity she runs in Chula Vista.
In giving grants, Tressler and her colleagues relied on advice from a First 5 committee of experts...
[Maura Larkins' comment: Did they bend her elbow to make her give money to herself?]
Of $153.39 million given out, at least $67.48 million went to groups with that inside track. That's 44 percent.
Last year, the commission in part awarded $7 million to St. Vincent de Paul, $6 million to the San Diego County Office of Education and $3 million to YMCA Childcare Resource Service, all of which employ advisory committee members.
Michael Carr is the longtime executive director of SAY San Diego, which provides a variety of youth services and receives money from First 5. Carr is also a member of the First 5 Commission's advisory and finance committees.
Carr said he and other volunteers are aware of the potential for conflicting interests, but he noted that committee members are seated because of their expertise and they have no authority to spend money.
“It's a question of who's interested in this sort of public policy,” said Carr, who said he would quit the committee rather than stop delivering the services he provides with First 5 revenue.
“It's not my sense the majority of folks on (the advisory committee) agree to spend that amount of time because of funding opportunities,” Carr said.
Joan Zinser, interim First 5 San Diego executive director, would not directly say why so many commission grants were paid to groups with representatives on the advisory committee. Zinser said only that they are “hands-on providers, dealing directly with families we serve.”
Supervisor Ron Roberts, who last served as First 5 chair in 2007, said the distributions represent “a major conflict of interest” and the system of rotating First 5 chairs based on the supervisor chairmanship needs to be re-evaluated.
“The serial chair almost guarantees you have chairs coming in that don't have a good enough grasp to effect the change you need,” said Roberts, who last month publicly criticized the commission for sitting on a $200 million bank balance.
Proposition 10 deemed that there would be independent commissions in each county so that First 5 spending decisions would be local, rather than fall to state political leaders...
Sherry Novick, who runs the First 5 Association of California trade group, said... early-childhood experts in any region are too valuable as resources to exclude from programs simply because they also serve as advisers.
“Frequently, the best provider is the one who's done it the most,” said Novick, who offers regular training sessions for commissioners on avoiding conflicts of interest...
[Maura Larkins to Sherry Novick: Do they do it the most because they have friends in high places? Which came first, the political connections or the contracts?]
Other First 5 commissions around the state also have been criticized for awarding contracts to groups that advise the panels...
2005-06 grants
2006-07 grants
2007-08 grants
FIRST 5 TIES
Some of the organizations that received First 5 San Diego funds in 2008 and the commission advisers who work for them:
St. Vincent de Paul: $7 million, Ruth Newton
San Diego County Office of Education: $6 million, Linda Scarpa
Rady Children's Hospital: $3.6 million, Kristin Gist
YMCA Childcare Resource Service: $3 million, Debbie Macdonald
Family Health Centers of San Diego: $2.3 million, Fran Butler-Cohen
Palomar Pomerado Health: $1.7 million, Annamarie Martinez
SAY San Diego: $1.7 million, Michael Carr
"First 5" RELATED LINK
Watchdog Report ♦ Member of First 5 Commission steps down: Tressler reportedly had conflict of interest
"First 5" EARLIER STORY:
First 5's fund focus of county attention
By Jeff McDonald, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
May 24, 2009
FIRST 5 SAN DIEGO
Created in 1999 after California voters approved Proposition 10, imposing tobacco taxes to fund early-childhood programs.
The five-member commission is appointed by the county Board of Supervisors. The board chair serves as head of the commission.
State voters last week rejected the idea of taking First 5 early-childhood funds to help balance the budget, but in San Diego County, the Board of Supervisors may find a way to do it anyway.
County Supervisor Ron Roberts singled out First 5 San Diego earlier this month as he and his colleagues sliced 771 positions from the county work force and a handful of programs that help poor children.
“I was shocked to find that the First 5 commission has $200 million in the bank,” Roberts said. “That is not a prudent reserve; that is a sinful reserve. There's something seriously wrong with that organization.”
Roberts suggested that First 5 San Diego pay the $340,000 needed to keep open the county's Child Health and Youth Clinics program, which serves about 1,750 patients every year but is now slated to close June 12. Community clinics will be asked to pick up the slack.
...[Dianne] Jacob defended the healthy bank balance and said the amount of unencumbered money the commission has is actually closer to $75 million...
For starters, longtime Executive Director Laura Spiegel resigned days after a March meeting. The commission made no public announcement, and Jacob declined to discuss the reason for Spiegel's departure.
Former county Health and Human Services Agency official Joan Zinser has taken the reins on an interim basis. Jacob said the commission expects to name a permanent successor later this year...
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