Couple of weeks back, the LA Times did a bang up hit job on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cabinet colleagues splurging state funds on commutes, unnecessary travel and downright crooked expense statements.

Rosario Marin, head of the State and Consumer Services Agency collected about $50,000 for paid speeches, including from companies who fall under her agency’s purview ($15,000 from Pfizer Inc. and $13,500 from Bristol-Myers Squibb). To make matters worse, she tried to pull a fast one over reimbursements for the travel expenses related to these speeches.

Consumer Affairs Director Carrie Lopez attended a Justin Timberlake concert with her daughter, and the state paid for her travel. To top it off, she billed taxpayers for meals she got for free.

Appointments secretary John Cruz made the state pay for flights and/or expensive Sacramento hotels because he’s an Orange County resident who commutes to Sacramento.

Obviously, considering the delicate state of economy, the drama over the highly unbalanced budget, the lost jobs, and furloughs and what-not, the shit was bound to hit the fan, and it did. The Gov now needed a scapegoat.

That scapegoat was Rosario Marin. Marin got canned (official version is that she resigned) and Schwarzenegger has now implemented new rules for his staff requiring strict disclosure of travel, gifts and additional incomes from gigs. And to maintain transparency, the Gov’s office is going to postall the disclosure forms for senior execs on its website.

Bit hypocritical and late in the day for Schwarzenegger to act all pious, but still… I suppose it’s a good precedent for the future.

Posted on March 7th, 2009 by Thomas
Filed under: California