March 28, 2008

Where's the party patrol?

The Attorney General's Office says it has not received a request to review the California Lottery's office party policies, contrary to a letter written by Lottery Director Joan Borucki.

"They didn't ask us for a formal opinion on that event," Gareth Lacy, a spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown, said Friday. "There's no pending request."

State auditors demanded Wednesday that the Lottery pay back $46,336 spent last November on an employee recognition event where over 300 workers, retirees and guests dined on black-peppered prime rib dinners. Prizes worth more than $10,000, including a Nintendo Wii, i-Pods and digital cameras, were handed out as part of the evening's entertainment.

In response to the audit, Borucki wrote State Controller John Chiang in mid-March that "the Lottery has requested a legal opinion from the Attorney General's Office on the legality of the expenditures for the employee recognition event."

The letter said the legal review was expected soon. "The Lottery expects this legal opinion by May 2008," Borucki wrote.

Lottery spokesman Al Lundeen said Friday that Lottery staff members are consulting state attorneys on developing new guidelines. They will then recommend policy changes which the Lottery Commission will have to approve, he said.

"The bottom line is the Lottery Commission will have before it in May suggestions that would establish guidelines about what's appropriate employee recognition and what's not," Lundeen said.

Posted by Judy Lin on March 28, 2008 2:21 PM