3 Days of Staff Meetings Left CAO Shaken

David Baker was at his desk at 7 a.m. sharp a week ago Monday, his first day on the job as county government’s top manager.

Flush from a successful five-year stint as San Joaquin County’s top administrator, Baker believed he had the skills to solve roiling fiscal problems and bureaucratic infighting that had plagued county government for more than a year.

But during the next four days of the short Thanksgiving week, and after meeting with fewer than a dozen county leaders, Baker developed a hand tremor and, increasingly, say county government insiders, appeared dejected. On Saturday, he abruptly resigned, leaving behind a six-page scathing assessment of the county’s financial and structural problems.

The inside information that sent Baker packing came during a series of meetings with top county officials. It started on Monday, when he met with Auditor-Controller Tom Mahon, who had some bad news for Baker.

The financial problems facing the county were more dire than had been revealed publicly. Not only did the county need to pay a $15.3-million Medicare fraud settlement, it was facing the loss of millions more in lost revenue. Immediate action to reduce costs was needed or the county might not have the cash to pay its 7,100 employees, Mahon warned.

Baker appeared flabbergasted, Mahon said.

“Basically, he had not been told about this [cash-flow problem], and yes, he was surprised,” Mahon said. “He felt this information was coming out of left field.”

As the week progressed, Baker said he quickly discovered things were not as they seemed. Hundreds of hours of research before taking the job had failed to reveal the depth of the county’s problems, he said.

In meetings with County Counsel James McBride, Assessor Dan Goodwin, labor leader Barry Hammitt and social services chief Barbara Fitzgerald, Baker learned more about turf wars and cutthroat politics between department heads to protect budgets.

He also learned that the administrative office is often kept out of the loop, sometimes by design, and was ineffectual in managing pressing problems.

At a Wednesday meeting, Hammitt said he told Baker of his concern that the county was not being honest with employees about revenue available for raises. Through body language and “reading between the lines,” he could tell Baker was troubled, Hammitt said.

“He said something like, ‘You sure seem to have a lot on your mind,’ ” Hammitt said. “He clearly wasn’t happy.”

Baker was becoming so overwhelmed that his hand shook as he went over paperwork in his office, said one county government source. Still, Baker held a senior staff meeting that went “smashingly” late Wednesday, the source said, and was giving directives on how to proceed.

But he was torn inside, Baker said when reached at his Lodi home near Stockton on Monday night. At times, he would take walks with his wife, Susan, on a beach “that looked like Hawaii.” But he knew he probably would not be staying long.

“I really wanted this to work,” said Baker, 50. “I considered going to the board with my concerns. But that would have worked far better before accepting the job. On the other hand, how do you get the inside information before you are there?”

He spent Thanksgiving Day at a Camarillo hotel, poring over notes, recollections and surging emotions. He returned to work on Friday, but had no official meetings on a day when many in county government were home extending their holiday celebration.

By Friday night, he had made his decision, Baker said. He had no choice but to resign his $150,000-a-year job because he had concluded he had little chance of bringing about the changes he believed were needed to bring stability.

“I tried to give the very best insights I could,” Baker said in the phone interview. “But with this environment, these circumstances and me coming from the outside, I’m not the right person for the job.”

It was the most difficult decision of his two-decade career and took “more courage than I knew I had,” Baker said.

On Saturday, he headed to Kinko’s in Camarillo, rented a Macintosh computer and typed out the six-page departure letter that would send county government reeling two days later.

He pulled out of a home purchase deal in Ventura and stopped a Realtor from selling his Lodi house. Then he and his wife loaded up their belongings and headed home, Baker said. They are both unemployed and they do not know what they will do next, he said.

A yellow sticky note on his desk offers this advice: “Deal with the situation.”

“My goal was only to help Ventura County,” Baker said, his voice cracking in apparent anguish. “I’m sad, disappointed. But I’ve taken the right course of action.”