Torres Asks Inquiry Into Health Dept.’s Toxic Study Contract

The chairman of a state Senate toxics committee called Monday for an investigation of the state Department of Health Services’ connections with a private foundation to which the department awarded without bid a $3-million contract to study contaminants in drinking water.

Sen. Art Torres, chairman of the Senate Toxics and Public Safety Management Committee, said management-level officials in the department are among directors of the nonprofit California Public Health Foundation.

The foundation, which was established in 1964, also includes retired state officials on its board. In testimony before his committee here Monday, Torres was told that the foundation had received between 20 and 30 state contracts worth an estimated $6 million to $7 million.

One of the officials in question, however, vigorously defended the foundation’s role and pointed out that he is not paid for his work as a foundation director. Stanley Cubanski, chief deputy director of the Department of Health Services and a foundation director, told Torres, “If there’s anything wrong we will attempt to right it.”

Torres said his most immediate concern is a $3-million non-bid contract awarded the foundation last September by the department to begin a three-year testing program to assess the risk of 30 chemicals--mostly solvents and pesticides--found in drinking water.

Those risk assessments will, in turn, enable the state to set drinking water standards.

The Los Angeles Democrat said he is concerned that the foundation’s ties with department officials may have given it a competitive edge over other organizations.

Torres told the committee: “We’re talking about credibility of government here. That’s what I’m concerned about.”

Cubanski insisted that the foundation is making a “legitimate contribution in terms of advancing public health in California.”

“If we’ve got deficiencies we’ll correct them,” he said. “If there are violations of the law that are prosecutable, we’ll prosecute them.”

Cubanski said he is aware of no wrongdoing and emphasized that foundation directors are not paid. He also denied that other organizations that sometimes perform similar studies for the government, such as the American Lung Assn. or the American Cancer Society, are at a competitive disadvantage.

Torres’ call for an investigation by the state auditor general comes on the heels of two other investigations into the department’s contracting procedures.

Last week, it was disclosed that the FBI had opened an investigation into possible overcharging by contractors hired by the department to clean up federal Superfund sites.

After disclosure of the FBI inquiry, Gov. George Deukmejian took the unusual step of asking the auditor general’s office--an arm of the Legislature--to investigate the contracting procedures.

“The problems of California’s toxic waste program have become increasingly subject to questions in terms of management and the integrity of the programs,” Torres wrote in a letter to the auditor general.

‘What Are We Doing?’

“We (must) come to grips with state employees serving as ex-officio members of private consulting firms (that) then receive substantial amounts of money from the state. What are we doing?,” Torres told the committee.”

“Now isn’t it a conflict of interest when you have state personnel deciding who gets these contracts and then that very personnel who decided who gets these contracts also decides whether or not we can rely on the efficacy of those contracts?” Torres said.

Cubanski replied that non-bid contracts are reviewed by the Department of General Services’ attorneys for their legality and by the Department of Finance for their fiscal effects.

Besides Cubanski, the other state official on the foundation board is Dr. Donald O. Lyman, the department’s Preventive Health Services Division chief.

Earlier, in an interview with The Times, Lyman said state and local governments routinely work with and through foundations to bring expertise to bear on complex problems.

Lyman said he believes that Torres’ chief concern is not the foundation itself but that private employees rather than state workers are being hired.

Democrats have complained that while Deukmejian has attempted to court public favor by cutting state personnel, he has merely shifted many tasks to non-state workers who do not show up on the payroll. Torres pursued that point Monday in questioning Cubanski.