Senate committee approves lottery appointment

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Feb 8, 2008 | by Steve Geissinger

SACRAMENTO -- A Senate committee confirmed the governor's appointment of Joan Borucki as lottery director Wednesday after she took some heat and apologized for an annual employee appreciation party that cost taxpayers $45,000.

Borucki said she had been advised by staff attorneys that the event was appropriate and claimed it was needed to boost employee morale.

Nevertheless, she accepted responsibility and said she would not allow such events in the future.

She cited her efforts to improve the education-benefiting lottery, and a representative of the state schools superintendent testified on her behalf.

The Senate Rules Committee voted 3-0 to approve her appointment, sending the matter to the full Senate. Senate leader Don Perata, an Oakland Democrat who chairs the Rules Committee, voted for her confirmation. The full floor usually follows the recommendation of the committee.

Her appointment by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came under scrutiny after the Sacramento Bee reported that auditors in the state Controller's Office were probing whether the recognition event -- where electronic gifts such as iPods and digital cameras were handed out -- was an appropriate use of public funds.

Testifying before the committee on Wednesday, Borucki said, "I am sorry. I am very embarrassed. I am angry with myself for having let this happen.

"Would I do this same event again? No."

Borucki said employee morale dipped after the governor announced he is considering leasing the lottery to a private company in exchange for an up-front payment that would help ease the state deficit.

"They don't know if they're going to be sold," she said. "They don't know if they're going to be leased."

She went ahead with the party, she said, partly because workers look to her for "stability, leadership and direction."

After she apologized, Perata told Borucki that he thought it was important she had accepted responsibility.

"You screwed up and now you're moving on," said Perata, who recommended that she get better legal advice in the future and review lottery procedures.

Borucki said that after learning earlier this week a lawmaker has obtained a Legislative Counsel's Office opinion disputing her staff attorneys' position, she has asked for an opinion from the Attorney General's Office.

The legal opinions are likely to be a central topic at an informational hearing on the event next week.

The audit by the state Controller's Office, which has oversight duties over the lottery's expenditures, won't be completed until mid- March, well after the Feb. 20, one-year deadline for the Senate to act on Borucki's appointment by Schwarzenegger.

Contact Steve Geissinger at sgeissinger@bayareanewsgroup.com, or 916-447-9302.