Audit of California Avocado Commission uncovers at least $1.5 million in questionable spending
During the three-year audit period, 18 employees used commission credit cards to pay for purchases including meals, flowers, luxury spa services and clothes from high-end retailers, the report says.
Something is rotten at the state agency behind a splashy $9-million annual marketing blitz on television, billboards and in food magazines to promote California-grown avocados, a new state audit indicates.
Employees and board members at the obscure, Irvine-based California Avocado Commission enjoyed lavish perks and benefited from as much as $2 million in questionable spending in the last three years, the audit concluded.
Among the benefits cited by the auditors were home remodeling projects, free professional hockey and baseball tickets, gym memberships and vitamins, regularly delivered restaurant meals, clothes from high-end retailers described as uniforms, generous automobile allowances and $850-a-night hotel rooms at four-star coastal resorts.
During the three-year audit period, 18 employees used commission credit cards to run up more than $1.5 million in charges to make "a significant amount of discretionary expenses that appeared questionable at best and even personal at times," the report said.
About $17,000 was spent on gifts, meals and flowers to celebrate fellow employees' birthdays, employment anniversaries and other special occasions, the report said. Another $39,000 purchased clothes at Nordstrom, Talbots, Ann Taylor that were classified as "uniforms" after spending $8,700 to embroider the commission name and logo.
Commission board members, their spouses, guests and employees spent thousands of dollars on "massages, nail service, facials and body treatments" during "nutrition committee" and directors meetings at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niquel and at luxury spas in La Jolla and Del Mar in San Diego County. The items "appeared to be lavish in nature," auditors said, "and may be considered gifts of public funds."
The commission is bankrolled by mandatory fees collected from the state's 6,000 avocado growers that are ultimately passed along to consumers. Its activities are overseen by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, which referred the matter to California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown's office for further investigation
Michael Jarvis, a spokesman for the agriculture department said only "the audit speaks for itself." Food and Agriculture Secretary A. G. Kawamura was unavailable for comment, Jarvis said.
In a statement, the commission said it "was deeply disappointed with the administrative weaknesses in some of our policies and procedures" revealed by the audit.
