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// July 9th, 2009 // Rejoinder

State Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez just issued a press release regarding the Board of Central Valley Regional Center’s decision to return the $500,000 salary increase for employees of CVRC. (See my previous article for more information.) Senator Florez says that he is “pleased to learn the Board… has acted promptly to reverse the distribution of half a million dollars in ‘leftover’ funds as pay bonuses in the midst of a budget crisis.” And he should be pleased; after all, this was something that Senator Florez became quite vocal about only a few days ago. But there are a few things regarding Sentor Florez’ press release that should concern everyone involved in this story, people in favor and opposed to the one-time salary adjustment alike.

When CVRC’s executive director Robert Riddick wrote to Senator Florez and informed the Senator that the Board had voted to return the funds, Mr. Riddick requested that the money be earmarked especially “for programs and services under the Department of Developmental Services.” Senator Florez should have been thrilled to hear this, and should have assured Riddick that the funds would be used in such a manner; he did not. Instead, Senator Florez said, “I will see what avenues are still available to make that happen.” In other words, there is no guarantee the money will be used for the disabled community at all, and if one were to look at Sacramento’s track record with management of the general funds, it won’t happen at all.

While we can appreciate the fact that Senator Florez offered to take a voluntary cut of 5% from his own salary a few months ago, it should be noted that the $500,000 in funds were already allocated to the operations of CVRC, have already been paid to the employees (in many cases, have already been spent), and such a return is not voluntary but forced by the Board under the pressure and threats of the California State government. This is not the same as Senator Dean Florez’ generous pay reduction. Telling CVRC to return the $500,000 in well-managed “leftover” funds is more like telling Senator Florez to return all of the salary he has “left over” after paying his mortgage, utilities, and gardeners. CVRC was responsible with their operations funds, as I’m sure Senator Florez is responsible with what he has been given.

At the risk of introducing an ad hominem argument, it should also be said that Senator Florez raised no concern with a proposal that passed and went into effect July 1st which cut dental, vision, and podiatry services to all adult Medi-Cal recipients, including those with developmental disabilities. Granted Senator Florez was not on the subcommittee which dealt with this proposal, but it is concerning that he would ignore such a huge cut to services, while complaining about the CVRC funds that were legally awarded to CVRC employees instead of being returned to him and his constituents. As State Senator Dean Florez prepares for his 2010 run as Lieutenant Governor of the State of California, I sincerely hope he is not using this issue to garner favor with California voters, being that corporate bonuses have been such a hot topic recently. The elimination of vital dental and vision care for the disabled community is a much more important issue, but thus far has received little or no attention from Senator Florez simply because it is not an issue being discussed in the public eye right now.