STOCKTON — A San Joaquin County woman is facing $40,000 in fines from the
California Fair Political Practices Commission for mismanaging public funds
earmarked for a local education program.
The FPPC will issue a default decision and order against Margaret Salazar at its
Aug. 20 meeting, according to an agenda posted on its website Monday afternoon.
Salazar was the regional director of San Joaquin County's Office of Education’s migrant education program from July 2009 to November 2011. According to the complaint, Salazar allegedly directed substantial program funds for catering and
janitorial services to two different vendors in which she had economic
interests.
One of the vendors was Los Adobes Taqueria, which Salazar owned and operated. The other vendor was Express Carpet Cleaning, which was owned by her then-husband, Ubaldo Rodriquez, according to the complaint.
Salazar declined comment on the decision Monday.
The investigation arose from an audit conducted by the California State Auditor
that involved several local and regional migrant education programs, including
the one administered by the San Joaquin County Office of Education.
Under the Political Reform Act, public officials are prohibited from making,
participating in making or attempting to use their positions to influence any
governmental decision in which they have a financial interest. This includes
employees of local government agencies.
According to the decision, Salazar agreed to waive her rights to a probable cause
conference and administrative hearing, and the penalty is payable to the
state's general fund.
Salazar faces four counts of approving a contract for Express Carpet Cleaning where she signed off as project manager at SJCOE’s Lodi and French Camp facilities in 2009, according to the complaint. In all, the initial contracts totaled
$45,450.
From November 2009 to January 2010, Salazar allegedly twice approved several forms authorizing additional payments to her husband’s business totaling $1,875.
In July 2010, Salazar allegedly renewed all the contracts for a new total of
$48,508, according to the FPPC.
Salazar told investigators that her husband’s business received a contract with SJCOE after complaints were received about the work performed by the existing
company, the decision states. She also said that requests for bids from other
companies were not posted.
In its report, the Bureau of State Audits found the contract with Express Carpet
Cleaning did not appear to have been awarded using a competitive process.
Instead, Salazar performed an internal analysis and allegedly rejected at least one
other vendor’s proposal when selecting her husband’s company, according to the
report.
In addition, Salazar faces three counts of requesting purchase orders for food
from her taqueria totaling $9,500 in 2011.
According to the decision, Salazar stated during an interview that she thought her
restaurant could provide the same amount of food to the SJCOE for less money.
There was no contract with the taqueria and no selection process. All Salazar had to do was submit purchase orders, according to the complaint.
The deputy superintendent overseeing SJCOE’s migrant education program explained during the investigation that the agency did not seek prosecution or repayment because it did not believe Salazar was trying to defraud the program, according to the decision. Rather, the agency believed she had “just made a series of incredibly bad judgments.”
In addition, the agency and its legal counsel believed the probability of
recovering any funds was very low and not worth the cost of further action.
Instead, the agency believed the best approach was to end Salazar’s tenure
under a separation agreement she signed, according to the decision.
Jaycob Bytel, spokesperson for the FPPC, said it could not comment as to why Salazar directed funds to the two businesses.
“When we have cases like this, that really isn’t something we investigate,” he said.
The Aug. 20 agenda, along with the default decision and order against Salazar, can be viewed at http://fppc.ca.gov/agenda.php?view=current.