The State Worker: The parks investigation: Staff complained about HQ leave buyouts while field was 'bleeding'

The State Worker

Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers

September 10, 2012

The parks investigation: Staff complained about HQ leave buyouts while field was 'bleeding'

Person interviewed: Lisa Ortega
Job classification: accounting administrator II
Interviewed by: Corrine Murphy, Justice Department deputy attorney general, and Angela Nowicki, Superintendent II, State Parks Law Enforcement Emergency Services
Date of interview: Feb. 24, 2012
Notable quote: "So somebody brought that up ... that admin was buying leave while the field is bleeding." -- Ortega's account of what a parks superintendent said in a meeting when attendees were asked to describe unethical behavior in their departments. (See page 17)

The California Natural Resources Agency recently released more than 1,000 pages of interviews, adverse action notices and reports that detail a covert employee leave buyback program at the Department of Parks and Recreation during the summer of 2011.

Natural resources issued the documents online in response to media requests after The Bee broke the story of the leave cash-out program, which spurred the revelation that parks squirreled away millions of dollars while also threatening to close facilities due to extreme budget pressure.

This post is the next in a series intended to make the documents readily accessible to the public.
Ortega Interview 2012-2-24

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