Your eyes on California Government

Katy Grimes: UPDATE: Assemblyman Anthony Portantino proved today that he’s made up of more than just the usual political posturing so often seen with politicians.

As members were packing up their briefcases at the very end of a long session, Portantino, a Democrat, asked permission for a couple of minutes to speak on the floor.  And then he blasted the Assembly for not complying with the state-required performance audit of Assembly administrative offices.

The Standing Rules of The Assembly call for an annual performance audit of the Assembly. But according to Portantino’s Chief of Staff, Trent Hager, the Assembly has never actually complied with this rule. And Hager ought to know – he said he worked for the Rules Committee for many years.

The rule reads, “Performance Audit - 15.7. In addition to the annual financial audit required by Rule 15.6, the Committee on Rules shall contract for an audit of the administrative operations of the Assembly. The administrative departments to be audited shall be determined by the Committee on Rules. An organization performing an audit pursuant to this rule shall be selected by a majority of the membership of the Committee on Rules. A contract for an audit shall be awarded through a competitive bidding procedure. Audits shall be prepared in a manner and form to be determined by the organization performing the audit, and shall be consistent with generally accepted accounting principles.

All findings and recommendations reported by an auditing firm shall be made available to Members and to the public.”

“I am very alarmed that leadership is working so hard to keep the books a secret,” Portantino said in an interview. “Even the documents released were discredited as incomplete. And now there is a complete failure in oversight.”

And Portantino said that his public records request to the Assembly was largely ignored with claims that no records were available.

In Secret Budget Is A Corrupt Budget, I wrote about Portantino’s battle with Assembly Speaker John Perez and Assembly Rules Committee Chairwoman, Nancy Skinner, both Democrats. Portantino claims the speaker is punishing him for a ‘no’ vote on the state budget passed in June. Shortly after the budget passage, he was ordered by Skinner to cut his budget by $67,000 or have his office staff furloughed between Oct. 21 and Nov. 30.

Portantino’s staff was even told to plan on filing for unemployment benefits, but that their health insurance would continue while on furlough. And staff who regularly work in the field were told to ‘stay at their desks’ during the furlough, as reimbursements for expenses would not be made.”

As for the Assembly rule requiring an annual performance audit, Hager said that with it, budget decisions would not lead to such arbitrary funding, and produce budgets that actually make sense.

“As a citizen, a taxpayer and a member of this body, I am greatly disturbed by this lack of transparency,” Portantino said.

Portantino is also calling for the equal funding for each member of the Assembly, according to Hager. And the audit would determine what staffing was needed for committees, alleviating the automatic padding that takes place.

But stay tuned – according to Hager, the show is not over today – apparently there will be more bark behind the bite.

UPDATE:  Portantino  introduced legislation Thursday to force the Assembly and Senate to comply with the California Public Records Act, which makes access to records much easier.

In a press statement, Portantino said, “Under AB 1129, Portantino calls for elimination of the self-serving exemptions to transparency that the legislature follows. In place of the same transparency the legislature expects local governments to operate in, the Legislature established its own watered down version of the CPRA called LORA – the Legislative Open Records Act. This action created loopholes and exemptions which have allowed Assembly leaders to hide budget records and expenditures from public review for years.”

AUG. 25, 2011

Tags: Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, budget, California, California Legislature, Democrats, government, Katy Grimes, legislature, Rules Committee, Speaker John Perez