Betty Yee must uphold law, let Alex Padilla clean up $35 million voter contract mess

California State Controller Betty Yee did the right thing when she refused to allow Secretary of State Alex Padilla to pay $35 million to a Democratic public relations firm his office had awarded a secretive, no-bid contract.

Now comes the hard part for Yee: standing firm while a desperate Padilla attempts to wrangle the money out of government coffers by hook or by crook.

Earlier this year, Padilla’s office awarded a major contract for a statewide voter education campaign to SKD Knickerbocker, which markets itself as part of “Team Biden.” The no-bid contract to the partisan firm drew criticism from some who saw it as a questionable politicization of the voting process.

SKD Knickerbocker started work on the “Vote Safe California” — producing and airing ads — before Padilla got approval for the contract. Then, Yee refused to approve the contract. As a result, the state Department of Finance has refused to issue a check. This leaves SKD Knickerbocker and Padilla in the lurch.

Yee’s office says money for the voter outreach program was supposed to go directly to the state’s 58 counties. Padilla’s office insists that it acted on behalf of the counties by giving the $35 million contract to SKD Knickerbocker.

But Yee’s office says Padilla lacked the budgetary authority to make such a decision.

“California’s budget says the money in question is to be ‘provided to the counties’ to help them prepare for the November election in light of the coronavirus,” wrote The Sacramento Bee’s Lara Korte. “It says the money could be used to cover such costs as ballot printing, mailing and postage, equipment needs, additional staffing, communication and outreach.”

Now that 2020 election has ended, Yee may be feeling pressure to approve the questionable contract in spite of the rules, according to a story by CalMatters.

“On Nov. 13, the secretary of state’s office asked the Department of Finance to transfer federal funds for the contract, though the department has not yet acted on the request, Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said,” wrote CalMatters reporter Emily Hoeven. “The controller’s office had already intimated that it would not approve the use of those funds. ‘The appropriation relied upon was clearly made to the counties and not to the SOS,’ Dave O’Toole, the controller’s chief operations officer, wrote in an Oct. 2 email to Padilla deputy Lizette Mata.”

“We suspect that there will be increasing pressure on Controller Yee to make payment on that illegal contract,” Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, told CalMatters.

Yee should hold her ground and resist any pressure. There’s no reason why her reputation should take a hit in order to rescue Padilla. The secretary of state’s office should have done its homework before it decided to order tens of millions of dollars in services it cannot afford.

This is not Padilla’s first major misstep. California’s Motor Voter program, which allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to register new voters, was plagued by serious errors. And when news organizations like The Bee attempted to investigate problems, Padilla — who campaigned on “transparency” and fancies himself as California’s next U.S. Senator — refused to disclose public documents in an effort to evade accountability.

It’s not clear why Padilla thinks he deserves a bigger job despite these repeated bungles. In any case, Yee should continue to uphold the law and leave Padilla to clean up his $35 million mess.