Low-rated company lobbies hard for multimillion-dollar L.A. County contract
Over the last 20 years, Los Angeles County taxpayers have paid tens of millions of dollars to a Virginia-based company to perform work criticized repeatedly as inadequate by county officials.
Faced with the possibility that its $32-million contract won't be renewed, Maximus Inc. has spent more than $124,000 this year on lobbyists and thousands more on political contributions to county supervisors, including some not running for reelection for two more years.
Maximus' story illustrates the intense fights that go on as the Board of Supervisors doles out millions of dollars in often lucrative contracts. In Maximus' case, as well as many others, a county contract offers the possibility of a big payout for providing services to the poor.
Off and on since the 1980s, the company has helped welfare recipients in Los Angeles County get jobs, most recently providing service to about 11,000 people each month in the San Fernando and Antelope valleys.
When the company's contract came up for renewal this year, the Department of Public Social Services said another company's bid was better. With its ties to the county in jeopardy, Maximus appealed the judgment only to have a review panel and the county's auditor-controller affirm the negative evaluation.
But the county's five supervisors get the final say. They are expected to vote on the matter next month.
In the first half of the year, Maximus spent $124,000 on two lobbying firms. Only the Southern California Hospital Assn. and Plains Exploration & Production Co., the oil company involved in a controversial effort to expand drilling in the Baldwin Hills area, spent more on lobbying in that period, according to reports filed with the county.
The six-month tab is more than the $85,000 Maximus spent on lobbying for all of last year in L.A. County.
At least two more lobbying firms have reported that Maximus hired them in recent months. The county does not require Maximus to report its latest lobbying expenses until next month.
In addition, Maximus gave $1,000, the maximum allowed, to the campaigns to reelect county supervisors Don Knabe and Michael D. Antonovich. They gave the same amount to supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Gloria Molina, whose terms still have two years to run. Yvonne B. Burke is retiring and does not have an active campaign account.
