Davis Overhauls State’s Probate Referee Program : Government: After reports of political patronage, controller takes steps to make sure officials fulfill duties.

In an effort to remove politics from the selection of probate referees, state Controller Gray Davis has taken steps to root out so-called phantom probate referees, upgrade the test used to evaluate applicants and put teeth into the rules that govern their conduct in office.

Davis also said he would create a citizen panel to review all applications and make recommendations for all appointments.

The actions, announced Wednesday by Davis’ chief counsel, Richard J. Chivaro, come in the wake of stories in The Times on political patronage in Davis’ appointment of California probate referees, some of whom receive up to $100,000 in fees each year. The referees, who are not state employees, are paid 0.1% of estate appraisals they conduct on behalf of the probate courts.

Although Davis and his aides strongly defended the 165 referees he has appointed since he assumed office as the state’s top bookkeeper and auditor in 1987, the controller has begun to make changes that promise to transform the selection process.

In a short statement, Davis praised the referees for performing “a valuable service at no cost to the taxpayers.”

Davis said he would ask probate judges to evaluate how individual referees perform in their courts and promised to assemble “a distinguished group of citizens who can advise my office on questions involving the appointment and reappointment of referees.”

Chivaro said: “This controller has gone out of his way to make changes to improve the system. This should remove any doubts as to what he is doing.”

In letters and meetings with referees over the last few weeks, Davis’ aides have been “reading the riot act” to the appointees, in the words of one controller’s office insider.

Because of one story pointing out that two politically well-connected referees were living out of state--one a voting resident of Maryland, the other spending long periods in China--Davis is imposing new residency and travel limitations on the appointees.

The new restrictions are spelled out in a letter Chivaro sent to all referees last week.

In the future, with some exceptions, referees must be registered voters in the county in which they are appointed, the rules state.

And anyone leaving his or her assigned county for more than 30 consecutive days must notify the controller’s office in advance.

Chivaro described the new requirements as a way “to ensure that these referees are responsible and trying to perform their own work.”

A notification requirement will apply to any referee who cannot perform the duties of the office while sick or disabled.

Chivaro said the rule was imposed because he learned of a Los Angeles referee, attorney Robert Adlen, who went into a hospital for routine surgery and “woke up a month later, apparently in intensive care.”

A team of auditors, Chivaro said, will be reviewing the referee’s files to determine whether Adlen continued to receive appraisal assignments from the court and whether he “is personally attending to his duties,” as the rules require. Chivaro said Adlen had recovered from his illness and returned to work, but Adlen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Davis has also ordered a change in the test that referees must pass to be eligible for appointment.

Last month, The Times reported that the passing mark on the test varied widely from one date to another, even though the identical 110-question, multiple-choice exam has been used for at least five years. The qualifying marks varied from 45.5% last May to as high as 63.6% three years before.

Chivaro said the controller canceled a test that was scheduled for Nov. 6 and asked the agency that administers the exam to redesign it. In the future, he said, the passing mark will be set by the agency, Cooperative Personnel Services, and not the controller’s office, as it has been.

Davis also plans to appoint an independent commission to review all applications and make recommendations for all appointments--a process that Chivaro compared to the meticulous review of judges appointed by the governor.

“The controller has said he will abide by the recommendations of the committee,” Chivaro said.

Earlier this week, Chivaro met with the 55 Los Angeles County referees and warned them that they must adhere to the controller’s training, performance and ethics rules or risk dismissal from their jobs.

Auditors from the controller’s office have continued to find some referees authorizing their staffs to use rubber signature stamps--a practice that Davis’ aides have been trying to eliminate for four years.

The same auditors have found that a dozen referees in the state did not fulfill their requirement of 15 hours of continuing education each year. If they fail to do so, Chivaro said, they will be removed from office.

Chivaro also said that one of the the Los Angeles referees--Marsha Claman--recently resigned from her post.

In 1992, Claman contributed $400 to Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Brentwood). The contribution violates a law that prohibits referees from contributing more than $200 a year to any candidate for a state partisan office. Claman said in a recent interview that she inadvertently sent a second $200 check to Friedman late last year and only became aware of it when it was brought to her attention by a reporter.

At her request, Friedman returned the second $200 late last month.

Chivaro said he had no idea if the contribution was a factor in Claman’s decision to resign.