The Contra Costa Grand Jury has released its report of the First 5 Contra Costa a local commission created by Rob Reiner’s Prop 10 the California Children and Families Initiative, which created First 5 California, a program of early childhood development services, funded by a tax on tobacco products. The report concludes the investigation of numerous complaints of alleged Board of Commissioners’ self-dealing, conflicts of interest, misappropriation of funds in the awarding of contracts, general dereliction of fiduciary duties, and unethical conduct.
In addition, complaints alleged illegal or inappropriate employment practices, including discrimination, manager bias and favoritism, sexual harassment and the cover-up of such behavior. Due to the number and nature of the complaints, the Grand Jury conducted an investigation.
The Grand Jury recommendations include:
1. The Board of Supervisors shall appoint commissioners not affiliated with agencies most likely to be awarded significant funding, thereby minimizing perceptions of impropriety.
2. First 5 Commissioners having financial interests in contracts before the Board of Commissioners shall recuse and physically remove themselves from meetings while the contracts are being considered.
3. First 5 Commission shall select a new independent auditor through a competitive bid process.
4. First 5 Commission shall provide annual training to all employees on Employee Handbook procedures and provisions.
5. The Board of Supervisors shall pursue inclusion of the First 5 Commission as a unit of County government.
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You all ain’t alone in this – we got them in Orange County charging $200 an hour to read the Fresno Bee and listen to the radio!
They all gotta go!
I vote red herring. Don’t bite.
I decided to look some of the AG info up myself. It seems that the Fair Political Practices Commission may be more helpful here in terms of the conflict of interest issues Mr. Valentine and Ms. Bonilla have invited us to address through their actions.
Here is the FPPC complaint page:
http://www.fppc.ca.gov/index.php?id=498
“Anonymous Complaints: Toll Free “tip line” 800-561-1861
If you do not want your name disclosed in connection with your complaint under any circumstances, you may call 800-561-1861 on Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to Noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and make the complaint anonymously. Commission staff will evaluate your claims and has the authority to pursue a complaint on its own initiative.”
They approved the slate by consent people. That’s how they can avoid looking like the issue avoiders they are – or – you can just avoid the meeting altogether, like Bonilla did. Any surprise there?
“FACT is not connected to First 5 except for the membership” – Here the First 5 PR machine may anonymously be at work as this was the same tactic Ms. Irwin took on EastBayDaze: deny it and of course they will believe you.
How could anyone in their right mind expect us to believe that First 5 people would not bring a First 5 agenda to the FACT Committee? That’s just preposterous and a bit insulting.
Let’s not get off track here: this FACT situation was brought up because it exposes Mr. Valentine’s egregious behavior in clearly loading the FACT Committee with people very likely to push or support his own agenda. Whether it is 33% or 100% of the panel does not matter: Mr. Valentine knows far more people in his life than just First 5 people, so here we have a pattern emerging: the Grand Jury said there was too much insider influence going on, and here we have proof of Mr. Valentine pushing an insider influenced slate.
This info bolsters the Grand Jury’s findings and most of the people here understand that.
In this context, for Ms. Bonilla to have asked (Dr. Walker and) Mr. Valentine to “help” her figure out where she should land on the First 5 recommendations then is just ridiculous, and to me it all reeks of conflict of interest, conspiracy, and influence peddling.
Having made a public proclamation that shows that she is willing to let two First 5 Commissioners tell her what to do, at least on the surface, it’s clear that either Bonilla has to change her mind and ask for other expert advice, or she will have to recuse herself due to her own role as a First 5 Commissioner as the BOS converts the First 5 Commission.
There is no good reason not to convert it; there are no unions involved in the situation; there is just a good old fashioned investigation that showed that there is no oversight and bad management. In fact, there are BOS arguments that should easily support conversion: potentially more access to funds, and more employees to unionize and make those voting brethren happy, so the forces are in support of the move.
The discussions here show that people are not concerned about First 5’s work, though perhaps they should be, but they are VERY concerned with the potential legal problems of First 5 Commissioners. It just seems like common sense and prudence that Ms. Bonilla and the rest of the First 5 Commissioners behaviors should now be examined under a more independent light. So once BGR or someone else tells us where to send our emails to the AG, you can guess what I’ll be doing.
Since your criteria for assessing the credibility and capability of people is clearly their willingness to be volunteers, then the Grand Jury has your people beat by a wide mile Anonymous, since they commit to 20 hours a WEEK to addressing problems in our public agencies as VOLUNTEERS.
If I take that your thinking a step further, then it is clear that the BOS should drop any opposition to the Grand Jury’s recommendations and implement them immediately.
Either Awesome Blossom is a bogey red herring or no wonder we have not heard them defend themselves much…
Someone tell Borenstein we’ve got proof right here that he’s dead on about pension reform! Otherwise we’ll have to pay for ol’ Awesome Blossom here.
ya know what’s interesting about the FACT makeup is that it is about the same way First 5 picks its Commissioners. Each of the BOS gets one pick, but that is exactly what the Grand Jury said was wrong – that the BOS has been picking people who receive a lot of the money.
Is the FACT committee doing that too in one way or another? Another reason to call in the AG if you ask me.
What the ?!?!? No wonder the GJ found that no one understood the employee handbook. Their want ads should start with “Seeking IQs over 100″…
AS I see it, the point is even better made by you: Joe Valentine has then already been stacking the deck for some time.
It makes it even more salient that fact that he proposed to appoint an employee of First 5 and a Commissioner of First 5 to the same Committee. That shows that he consciously did this – it was not an unconscious act – he understands then the relationships of these people to his position, and did it anyway. In my opinion, that’s what legitimately concerns people about it.
It should bother you that the FACT members are so closely connected to First 5 and according to you, have been for some time. There should be more space between FACT and First 5, especially since First 5 has come under fire from the Grand Jury.
Joe Valentine should have been smart enough to at least then find one person for the new spot who was unaffiliated with First 5. It would not have been difficult to do. He did not. That says volumes.
who are you to just show up and tell me what to say?! I’ve been in this early on and now you want me to play politics with the CCT?
HAH! With all due respect, get your manhole covered!
I love First5. They gave all my friends jobs. We have pensions and you people are all losers! You should be interested in helping people. This country is made to give happiness.
Cool it KentD. Maybe they are just doing some legwork on the details. Maybe they will actually go look for indictments. The CCT is just a business making business decisions, and that’s kind of sad, but it’s true.
The problem is that if any of us criticize the CCT too much, then it is just seen as Halfway’s rightwing flunkies.
It is almost as if they are toying with the posters on this site. Several have asked them to take a look at the story; that they have not yet say something about them, not us.
IMO: they are who others claimed they are; the DA deals will happen; it will go statewide as people realize that the game was a kick in their teeth and the children were the real losers.
Here are some facts you should know about FACT:
The Family and Children’s Trust Committee has been around since the Board of Supervisors created it in 1989. In 2005 the Family and Children’s Services Advisory Committee and FACT were combined into one committee – FACT.
The purpose of this Committee, as approved by the Board of Supervisors, is to recommend priorities and make funding recommendations on the allocation of specific funds including: CAPIT funds (AB 1733), Birth Certificate funds (AB2994), the Family and Children’s Trust funds, the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention funds (CBCAP), and the Child Care Affordability funds. Note that there is no mention of First 5 or the funding from Proposition 10.
FACT is not connected to First 5 except for the membership. FACT is made up of 15 members – 5 members, one from each Supervisorial District who are appointed directly by the County Supervisor, 5 members who are “at-large” representing the community, and 5 members who can represent any of several different fields that deal with children. These last five members are the ones in question and represent: Lisa Johnson – First 5; Belinda Lucey, Naomi Zipkin, and Violet Smith – early childhood education; and Carol Carillo – child abuse prevention. Four of these individuals have already been serving on FACT and are being re-appointed for a new term.
All of the individuals appointed to FACT have one thing in common. They are VOLUNTEERS. These individuals put in many hours without benefit of payment because they want to make a difference. Wouldn’t it be nice if more people did that? If you would like to volunteer there are many committees and advisory boards looking for members. Contact the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.
The CCT calls it news to report that the BOS is voting on soda pop – just which editor at the CCT has been drinking too much koolaid?
I am confused. The CCTimes wrote about the Hercules Grand Jury report but not this one? Can any one tell me why?
I think you may be referring to this situation
http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2010/more-on-pacific-strategies-and-the-greenhut-lunch/
My take is that it is the tip of the First 5 iceberg. Just look at the data about them statewide that came to light last year:
http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/mlakin/archives/2009/04/prop-1d-the-d-stands-for-decep.html
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