“Truth,” who are you sleeping with? Uniforms from Nordstrom & Ann Taylor?
$600 to $800 a night hotel rooms? And yes, the board participated in the lavish spending and should be thrown by the members. Since the irregularities were discovered in an audit, everyone is running for cover and pointing the finger.

Amusing comment by Chairman of Board,”“I’m extremely unhappy that we were hoodwinked. I think our good nature was taken advantage of by our former president and CEO,” said Avocado Commission Board Chairman Rick Shade. “I would like the people to know the board has seized control of this commission and is working very hard to make things right.”

Hmmm….. Since Shade & the rest of the board & spouses enjoyed their stays at the luxury hotels, it appears their hands are not clean either! Here are their names:

As the article says, the avocado growers are paying for this commission, not you.

LN Says:
January 13th, 2009 at 11:01 am
An “Avocado Commission”?? Why are we even paying for this at all?

I certainly hope that Saddleback Church takes a serious look at this guy. Anyone who thinks that it is ok to spend $17,000 to convert their garage using other peoples money does not hold the same values as the rest of us. To me it would be preposterous to spend someone elses money improving my home. What is stopping Mark Affleck from spending money on his lavish lifestyle using the tithes from Saddleback Church? Especially if he is part of the Global Outreach? How many lavish hotels can he stay in around the world while he is performing his job? And for Truth to state in the comments that the clothing expenses were most likely for uniforms, that is hogwash. Who buys uniforms from Ann Taylor? When I had to work at a convention, I was expected to use my own money to purchase a suit. What a load of baloney. Obviously Truth is employed by the company or married to someone who is. Just because you write it, doesn’t mean the readers will believe it.

If they don’t think they get paid too much, unlike what the taxpayers believe we need to immediate start a signature drive that controls their compensation and rids them of perks.

There is a special election in early 2009 so lets do it.

I would say given the current economic conditions and all these stories in the OC REgister regarding the pay and perks of these so called public servants, the OC voters would wait in a hour line just to sign a petition to put this measure to the voters.

Let’s do it … All these Water district execs, county execs, BOS need to cut it out the fat and since they are not willing to cut their pay and their fellow cronies, we need to do it.

If they don’t like it, too bad. They all can try their hand in the private sector or file for unemployment.

YOU MAY FIND THIS INTERESTING:

From the State of California California Avocado Commission Charter:

ARTICLE 3 SECTION 67062. The state is not liable for the acts of the commission or its contracts, except for state-directed supervision of the avocado inspection program….

No member of the commission or alternate member, or any employee or agent thereof, shall be personally liable on the contracts of the commission nor shall a member, alternate member, or
employee of the commission be responsible individually in any way to any producer or handler or any other person for error in judgment, mistakes, or other acts, either of commission or omission, as principal, agent, or employee, except for his or her own individual acts of dishonesty or crime.

No member or alternate member shall be held responsible individually for any act or omission of any member of the commission.

The liability of the members shall be several and not joint, and no member shall be liable for the default of any other members.

These agricultural commissions are funded via assessments on growers/producers, and they help all of us by increasing sales of California products to outside the state. While I agree they need to be audited, they are hardly a waste or boondoggle as some seem to think.