Lawmakers lambast DAs association over misuse of funds

Lawmakers and witnesses spent the first hour of a budget subcommittee hearing on Monday lambasting the California District Attorneys Association over an audit that found the group misused $2.9 million in state funds.

While the organization has acknowledged the problem, several powerful legislators demanded to know if any of the money was used for political activities.

“CDAA routinely borrowed funds from restricted programs and treated the monies as unrestricted,” Anita Lee, principal fiscal and policy analyst with the Legislative Analyst’s Office, told the members of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Public Safety. “This practice was fundamental to CDAA’s financial viability since 2004.”

A report Lee issued Monday detailed how the group misappropriated funds intended for training, prosecuting environmental crimes and other purposes.

The association didn’t send anyone to the hearing to offer a defense, as noted in an agenda prepared by committee staff: “The California District Attorneys Association was invited to participate in today’s hearing but they declined due to the opening of an investigation on the audit by the Department of Justice.”

“It’s a little frustrating we don’t have CDAA here to be able to ask some of these questions directly,” said the committee’s chair, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens.

The association has said that it acknowledges misuse of funds, hired a private auditor to determine where the money went and replaced top leadership. Chief Executive Officer Greg Totten took the helm of the organization in January after 18 years as Ventura County district attorney. Last month, Totten sent a letter to the California attorney general formally requesting it investigate the allegations.

“We are deeply angered by the actions of former staff members and are committed to a complete resolution of this issue,” Totten said in a news release at the time.

Totten declined to comment for this article but his staff shared a copy of a Dec. 22 summary of the audit it commissioned from accounting firm Hemming Morse LLP. The letter states the group “acknowledged” the problems after it became aware of them last year and “initiated a plan for repayment of the borrowed funds.”

But that’s not enough for some lawmakers and groups impacted by the misuse of public money.

“These critical dollars should keep flowing,” testified Ken Spence, senior policy advisor for NextGen California. “But given CDAA’s untrustworthiness, funds should instead be overseen by responsible government entities and go directly to the local district attorney offices and environmental organizations doing this critical work.”

NextGen joined the Environmental Working Group, Sierra Club and several other organizations in sending a February letter to legislative leaders concerning $1.8 million in misused funds intended for enforcing environmental laws. It urged lawmakers to end the association’s nearly 20 year partnership with the California Environmental Protection Agency and to demand fast repayment of all funds.

“Preserving the long-term financial viability of the organization should not be a concern… The state should recoup what it can, as quickly as possible, and break ties with the CDAA,” the letter urged.

Assemblymembers Garcia and Mark Stone, D-Scotts Valley, both raised concerns the association may have used the money for lobbying and other political activities. Stone, who chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee, said there were “cultural problems” within the organization.

“We know this is a political organization,” Stone said. “What troubles me is we know they aggressively engage in those campaigns.”

He added, “They have other ways to raise money to remedy this. The fact they don’t seem interested in coming up with a serious way of remedying it and just sort of paying it off as they can shows to me a lack of seriousness.”

The association spent $130,000 lobbying the Legislature, mainly on criminal justice bills, during the 2019-2020 session. Spending dropped drastically around a year ago. In February, Totten sent a termination notice to the California Secretary of State stating it would cease lobbying activity.

Yet the association has continued its public opposition to recent changes in the criminal justice system. It has also continued a public war with recently-elected Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, who unseated incumbent Jackie Lacey after a campaign in which he promised to end many of her office’s tough-on-crime policies.

“Recent footage of convicted murderer Phillip Dorsett celebrating George Gascón is compelling proof that violent criminals, not victims, will be the biggest beneficiaries of his radical policies,” Totten said in a March 9 news release.