Lottery official terminated for hotel contract

SACRAMENTO — The California Lottery’s broadcasting director was fired Tuesday over allegations he signed an unauthorized contract last year with the Hilton Glendale using state funds that earned his personal hotel account at least 97,000 member rewards points.

Richard Leeson’s termination came after a two-month administrative investigation into the matter, and on the same day a special state Senate hearing was convened seeking an explanation from state lottery officials.

The August 2006 contract for about 80 rooms a month was signed by Leeson to house lottery contestants appearing on the “Big Spin” television show for the 2007 calendar year at the Hilton Glendale on West Glenoaks Boulevard. The Hilton Honors points were accrued at one point per dollar, lottery officials said.

The points can be redeemed for stays at Hilton-owned hotels around the world or for flight tickets at various airlines.

The agreement was a violation of state law prohibiting government employees from using state funds to benefit financially or otherwise, said Don Currier, chief legal counsel for the state Lottery Commission.

Additionally, Leeson did not have the authority to sign the contract and never told his supervisors of his actions, Currier said.

A separate criminal investigation into Leeson’s intent in signing the agreements, and to determine if he accrued more points beyond the August 2006 contract, continues.

Calls made to Leeson’s Sacramento-area home were not returned Wednesday.

The 2006 Leeson-Hilton contract came to the attention of the Lottery’s legal department in March after representatives of local workers’ union Unite Here made a records request for the paperwork in their bid to have the state organization join their ongoing boycott of the hotel.

A May 24 Glendale News-Press article on the matter near the end of the investigation caught the attention of state Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), who chairs the committee that oversees the Lottery Commission.

After confirming the investigation with lottery officials, he called a special hearing into the matter on Tuesday, where state Lottery Director Joan Borucki announced Leeson’s termination.

“We’re very happy they took the action they took,” Florez said in a phone interview after the hearing. “I think the message has been sent.”

Although Leeson remains the focus of the investigation as the Lottery attempts to “keep our own house straight,” Currier said, the fingers of the inquiry will also touch on several other players involved in the agreement.

Officials will look into why Jonathan Goodson Productions — which produces the “Big Spin” show and was supposed to be responsible for all show contracting — allowed Leeson to sign off on the rooms, Currier said.

Since Leeson was the production company’s “handler,” Currier said the show’s producers may have assumed it was legitimate, or were too afraid to say anything.

“It puts them in an uncomfortable situation,” he said. “I don’t know that I would throw rocks at Goodson right now.”

Calls made to the production company on Wednesday were not returned.

Hilton Glendale employees will also be scrutinized on whether they knew crediting Leeson’s personal account with the rewards points was against the law, Currier said.

Should the investigation reveal any misconduct on the part of Hilton employees, that information would be turned over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, he said.

Linda Norman, general manager of the Hilton Glendale, said she was “on the outside of this looking in,” and getting most of her information on the matter from press reports, although she did acknowledge that hotel agents knew Leeson was a state employee.

“In respecting the investigation that they are conducting, I feel that it’s best the information come from them,” she said.

The legal issue prompted lottery officials to cancel their contract with the Hilton Glendale seven months before it was due to expire in December.

The five-year production agreement with Jonathan Goodson Productions will expire in December, at which point lottery officials said they would solicit competitive bids from other companies.