Then, we discovered that a significant reason for costs being so high was the fact that those who benefited the most were also full-time state employees during the day. The reason this was important to note is because full-time state employees get paid time-and-a-half when working as inspectors at CSAC. The time-and-a-half is based on what salary is higher: your day job salary x 1.5 or regular CSAC salary (around $30/hour) x 1.5. If your day job pays $40 an hour, suddenly working as a CSAC inspector meant you were getting paid $60/hour for salary. On top of that, the state employees got all sorts of travel benefits including airplane tickets, Cadillac Escalade car rentals, meal money, and other goodies. The end result is that you had figures such as $729,000 and $668,000 a year for inspector salary costs, while in-state travel was well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
The reason these costs raised so many eyebrows amongst those who work at other state athletic commissions in America is because most inspectors are paid a flat fee to work a show, usually a few hundred dollars at most. Forget benefits like getting your travel costs getting picked up by the taxpayer, too. Inspectors in Nevada & New Jersey were flabbergasted to see just how much money was being dished out in California.
The old adage “follow the money” always applies to these kinds of stories, so that’s exactly what we did. We decided to go through the publicly-disclosed tax records of officials at the Department of Consumer Affairs to find out what has been going on. Where did the money at CSAC go? Who benefited the most? Why were certainly individuals paid more than others? Why is top management at DCA always so involved in the activity at CSAC?
What we discovered provides more pieces of the on-going puzzle.
Potential motivation for Denise Brown’s desire to fire George Dodd
Put yourself in the shoes of one Denise Brown, the person appointed by Governor Jerry Brown last January to take over as the top boss at the Department of Consumer Affairs. You’ve been working at DCA since the days of the Jimmy Carter administration. You’ve gone in-and-out of various bureaus, from cosmetology to CARB (California Air Resources Board). You’ve had years where you made peanuts and other years where you drew a 6-figure paycheck. Governor Brown really, really wants you as the head of DCA. Although he appointed you to the top position at DCA, you have to be confirmed by the state Senate’s Rules Committee. If they don’t go along with your confirmation, your career is finished.
Here’s a layout of Denise Brown’s work history at Consumer Affairs:
Brown was an advisor to the executive officer and staff of the California Air Resources Board from 2009 to 2011. She served in the Department of Consumer Affairs in multiple positions from 1977 to 2009, including chief deputy director. Brown was chief deputy registrar at the Contractors State License Board from 2004 to 2009, chief deputy director at the Department of Consumer Affairs from 1999 to 2004 and a program administrator at the California Architects Board from 1998 to 1999.
She worked in multiple positions at the California State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology from 1994 to 1998 and from 1987 to 1991, including executive officer of the board. She was deputy chief of the Division of Consumer Affairs from 1981 to 1983 and a legislative aide from 1977 to 1981. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $144,504. Brown is a Democrat.
Two factors to consider here: a) The recent payouts from DCA to Denise Brown & b) how much he stands to make as DCA’s #1. The answer to point A is right below in graphic form. The answer to point B is: potentially over $200,000 a year plus benefits.
Tax data: 2007 -> 2009 -> 2010 -> 2011
With so much money the line, George Dodd & CSAC proved to be an easy whack-a-mole for Brown to make an example out of and show to the players in the state Senate’s Rule Committee that she would rule DCA with an iron fist. At the July 2nd SRC meeting, they believed her. The rest is history.
A Preamble (of sorts) about the tax records for athletic inspectors
We are going to list the tax data of the inspectors here for you to look at. Some qualifiers should be noted. First, we’re not going to break down each individual listed. We simply can’t and won’t. We’re not going to label every individual a good person or a bad person. Certainly, we will do that for some of the individuals listed in order to give you more pieces of this on-going puzzle as to why the Department of Consumer Affairs is so invested in what happens at CSAC.
About half of the inspectors listed on the 2011 tax records are, in fact, full-time state employees in California. It’s important to note this because full-time state employees who work as inspectors get paid time-and-a-half (1.5 times their day job hourly rate or inspector rate, whichever is higher) plus all the travel benefits. We don’t have the time sheets for all the inspectors in front of us, so we can’t match up salary totals with hours claimed. We also don’t have the individual travel claim sheets for the inspectors, either. So, what we are going with here for data is the salary totals listed along with any state employment connections.
I think that the tax data along with the state employment connections will reveal some interesting developments that will warrant further investigation in the future.
