Blackouts don't justify takeout, Connell says 
By Ed Fletcher
Bee Capitol Bureau
(Published July 25, 2001) 
While operating in "crisis" mode, Department of Water Resources staff worked 20-hour days, slept in conference rooms and were fed pizza and sushi by the state as the department tried to keep California's lights on. 
Saying the department "charged enough to feed a small army," state Controller Kathleen Connell now is asking those employees to pay the state back about $3,600 for department food purchases in January. 
"We are not going to be paying these bills," Connell told reporters Tuesday. 
The state does not buy business-hour meals for staff while they are in town, Connell said. Additionally, the use of a government-issued credit card to make the purchases was improper, she said. If the department does not require the employees to pay for the takeout meals, she said, the department will have to absorb the cost. 
The Department of Water Resources began scrambling to buy power Jan. 17 after Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency -- the same day Northern California was hit with rolling power blackouts. As a result of the department's new responsibility, staff members buying power were asked to work nearly around the clock, said Oscar Hidalgo, a department spokesman. 
Buying food for staff during crisis situations is nothing out of the norm, Hidalgo said. 
"Under emergencies such as these ... we believe we were in a position to do this. Our staff did nothing other than it would do during a flood," Hidalgo said. 
California's recent success in keeping the lights on has led people to forget the level of crisis the state was in, Hidalgo said. "It seems at every turn ... people are making Monday morning quarterback calls," he said. 
Connell and her aides said buying power is not the same as firefighters getting food while battling a blaze. 
They said using the "Cal-Card" for buying food is specifically prohibited. "It's not an open line of credit," she said. 


The Bee's Ed Fletcher can be reached at (916) 326-5548 or efletcher@sacbee.com <mailto:efletcher@sacbee.com>.