County Investigates Business Ties to Molina’s Husband

Los Angeles County’s chief administrative officer has launched an investigation into how a company owned by Supervisor Gloria Molina’s husband continued to receive county business after a contract for the same work was withdrawn from board consideration earlier this year.

In a confidential letter to supervisors May 22, Richard B. Dixon said, “I have authorized a full investigation of the allegation that the county’s affirmative action compliance officer, without board approval, continued to do business with PeopleWorks,” a firm owned by Molina’s husband, Ron Martinez.

“Regardless of whether there are ways of proceeding without board authority, it seems to me that once you seek it, the implication is that you are not going to proceed without obtaining it or advising those whose authority you sought how you are hoping to proceed,” Dixon said in an interview Wednesday.

Dixon said his inquiry was prompted by a Times story last week that affirmative action officer Robert Arias authorized Martinez to proceed with “cultural sensitivity” training for employees after a proposed $100,000 contract for the same work was pulled from the board agenda in February.

Arias has said that he pulled the contract to avoid political controversy during Molina’s campaign, but authorized Martinez to proceed with the training to address federal allegations that the county Department of Health Services discriminates against Latino employees.

Molina has said that she has not voted on any contract involving her husband and was unaware of the details surrounding Martinez’s work for the county.

Dixon said the investigation is being conducted by his office, county counsel and the auditor controller. Once it is complete, he said he will provide supervisors with a report “outlining the facts and, if appropriate, recommending courses of action.”

Irving Cohen, assistant director of the health department, said that Martinez has billed the county about $14,000. “We haven’t determined how much we feel we’re obligated for,” he said. “We’ve got to find out if we’re allowed to pay him without having authority,” a reference to the absence of a written contract between Martinez and the county. Cohen said that he has instructed Martinez not to conduct any more training.