DWP Dinner Tab

In another flap over expenditures by the city’s Department of Water and Power, City Controller Rick Tuttle has rejected a $1,222.62 expense account entry for a “business dinner” during a June conference in Denver.

“It’s hard for me to believe any serious public business could be done at a function where 15 people ordered 13 bottles of wine and more than 10 drinks,” said Tuttle, noting that drinks alone “worked out to more than $30 per person.”

William G. Williams, assistant chief financial officer for the DWP, paid the bill with his DWP-approved American Express credit card. Department officials said they were not prepared to comment.

The latest controversy follows questions about the DWP spending nearly $1 million to ferry legislators, customers and DWP executives on all-expense-paid tours of DWP plants near the Grand Canyon and other remote locations. Mayor Tom Bradley imposed a moratorium on the tours.

Tuttle also rejected Tuesday, for a second time, payments for $12,362.60 for three charter flights to Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe and Phoenix-flights that reportedly would have cost less than $2000 on “easily accessible” regular airlines. A DWP spokesman claimed Tuesday the flights gave DWP executives needed flexibility.