Oh, what a tangled web...

It's a damp Thursday, Tazer Faithful. The rain has stopped, but not for Mayor Irma Anderson. And in Tazerville, when it rains, it pours...

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WEST COUNTY TIMES
Wed., Oct. 4, 2006

MAYOR ADMITS SHE WAS OVERPAID
RICHMOND: Anderson pays back $1,800 in stipends she received over eight months starting in 2002 RICHMOND: Anderson gives back $1,800 in payments she received over eight months starting in 2002

By John Geluardi
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Richmond Mayor Irma Anderson was overpaid about $1,800 for a 2002 automobile stipend, she said this week after reviewing her personal finances for that year.

Anderson said she discovered the error about three weeks ago and, after confirming it with city Finance Director Jim Goins, reimbursed the city last week.

Anderson was given a city car in July 2002, which made her ineligible for the automobile stipend that reimburses city officials who use their own cars for city business. But Anderson continued to collect the $225-a-month stipend for eight months ending in February 2003, according to a news release she issued Saturday evening.

"I had no idea, mainly because I have automatic deposit," she said. "I have other monies going into my account, and I received a council-approved raise around the same time. They put the slips on my desk, but how would I notice a $150 deposit?"

An $1,800 overpayment spread out over eight months would actually be $225 a month.

Anderson blamed the accounting error on former City Manager Isiah Turner, whose overoptimistic revenue projections resulted in a crippling, $35 million budget crisis that cost more than 300 city jobs and bone-deep cuts in city services, according to a 2004 state audit.

Anderson said she informed Turner that she was going to take the city-owned car and that he was responsible for notifying the Finance Department that she no longer required the stipend.

Goins, who was not working for the city in 2002-03, said the Finance Department has no knowledge that Anderson was aware of the mistake prior to three weeks ago.

"To my knowledge there is no information that the mayor previously knew about the overpayment," he said. "I can tell you we had to do a lot of digging to find the records."

City Manager Bill Lindsay, who also was not with the city at the time, did not immediately return calls requesting copies of communications prior to three weeks ago among the city manager's office, finance department and mayor's office related to the overpayments.

Anderson said that if this were not an election season, she would not have made the overpayments public.

"I know how the truth can get distorted in these political hit pieces," she said. "I want people to know that I found the mistake, I paid it and that it was a mistake by city staff, period.

"If I didn't put out the press release, I doubt that would come out."

Contact John Geluardi at 510-262-2787 or at jgeluardi@cctimes.com.

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WEST COUNTY TIMES
Thu., Oct. 5, 2006

EX-WORKER WON'T TAKE BLAME FOR CAR STIPEND
RICHMOND: Former city manager says he did not handle mayor's finances, including an overpayment

By John Geluardi
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Former Richmond City Manager Isiah Turner on Wednesday disputed Mayor Irma Anderson's claim that he is responsible for the $1,800 automobile stipend she wrongly received in 2002 after she began using a city-owned car.

Anderson told the Times this week that the overpayment was a blunder that should have been caught by Turner, who was city manager at the time. In a Wednesday morning telephone call from Atlanta, where he now lives, Turner said he had no knowledge of the overpayment and that he was not responsible for managing the mayor's checkbook.

"As city manager I never had time to deal with automobile stipends," Turner said. "This would have been handled by the Finance Department and more importantly by the mayor, an elected official, who should be more responsible. I'm not taking the hit for this."

Turner abruptly left the city for health reasons in 2003, weeks before the discovery of a $35 million budget deficit.

Anderson agreed Wednesday that the stipend payment was the responsibility of the Finance Department, but she pointed out that Turner had oversight of that department.

"I understand Isiah is upset, that's how it is," Anderson said. "Three years ago there was an accounting error made by the Finance Department, and the ultimate responsibility is the city manager's."

In July 2002, Anderson began using a city-owned Chevrolet Impala, making her ineligible for the automobile stipend, according to a news release Anderson issued Saturday. The stipend is meant to reimburse city officials for wear and tear on their personal automobiles. Anderson said she did not notice the stipend payments, which continued to be deposited directly into her account for eight months after she began using the Impala.

Anderson said the stipend deposits were lost among other money going into her account, including a council-approved pay raise she received around the same time.

Turner said all the council members were briefed about the stipend and that Anderson should have known about it.

"She knows she was not supposed to be getting that money," he said. "And if she didn't, the Finance Department should have handled it."

Anderson said it was the city's mistake, and that it is time to move on.

"I found the overpayment, the city didn't, and it's been paid back," she said. "I made this all public because I wanted the taxpayers to know the truth."

Reach John Geluardi at 510-262-2787 or jgeluardi@cctimes.com

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TIMES EDITORIAL
Thu., Oct. 5, 2006

THE ANDERSON SPIN

JUST WHEN WE think Richmond Mayor Irma Anderson can't get more ridiculous, she finds a way to prove us wrong. This time is was a preposterous press release attempting to spin revelations that she improperly took city funds for an auto allowance.

Monthly auto stipends are given to select city employees to cover wear and tear on their personal vehicles. Anderson, who drives a city-owned car, was not entitled to the allowance, but received $1,800 from July 2002 to February 2003.

The news came to light after Times staff writer John Geluardi began questioning city officials.

Anderson blamed the city -- specifically former City Manager Isiah Turner -- for "erroneously" giving her the stipend. She says she told Turner she was going to take a city-owned car. And as city manager, it was his job to oversee the finance department and see to it that it pulled the plug on her allowance.

It gets better. Anderson claims she did not realize that she was getting extra money because it coincided with a pay increase. When she discovered the error this week, Anderson says, she immediately reimbursed the city.

"They put the slips on my desk," she said in Tuesday's Times. "How would I notice a $150 deposit?"

We're not sure what's worse. That the mayor knowingly helped herself to taxpayer money that she wasn't entitled to. Or that someone charged with running the county's second largest city has so little clue about her own personal finances.

Turner, whose tenure resulted in a $35 million budget crisis that crippled the city, insists that Anderson had to have known that she was getting the auto stipend.

We do find it odd, that the mayor would suddenly begin reviewing four year-old financial reports just as her re-election campaign is heating up.

What is absolutely laughable, however, is the mayor's crude attempt to transform a political blunder into a monumental achievement.

"I am very pleased to have recruited and hired a new city manager and finance manager specifically to put a stop to these types of mistakes," her press release crowed. " ... Richmond has now received one of Moody's highest ratings for sound, responsible, fiscal management."

There is no doubt that some of Anderson's political foes leaked the old information to discredit her during the mayoral elections. We find the dirty pool unsavory.

But the sad fact is, it is Anderson, and Anderson alone, who gave them the ammunition, be it through bad judgement or sheer negligence.

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Sorry, Times editors, but discredit is as discredit does. Get it right, and repeat after us: The truth is NOT dirty pool.