The Fleecing Off Figueroa

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has a bigger problem than not attracting a professional football team to play there.

Employees for the Coliseum Commission vigilantly brave illness to report to work...and then cash in those giant chunks of unused sick leave. And we're not talking a few bucks, but thousands of dollars.  Interim General Manager John Sandbrook used the sick leave allotment from his University of California administrator career to boost his annual pension by $655 a month for life - and he's who they hired to curtail sending abuses at the stadium!  He replaced Patrick Lynch, who left with more than nine years of accrued sick time, adding $1,630 annually to his retirement benefits.  But it doesn't stop there.

Sandbrook, Lynch and other managers are tied to an array of what can best be summarized as  financial irregularities in how the stadium has been run, which according to an LA Times report include "lucrative side dealings, suitcases of cash for a union agent and perks such as luxury cars, massages and golf outings for select staff".  I'm surprised they haven't been on the mayor's boat.  Many of these "managers' perks" were kept in place for months after he took the helm, and why not?  With his padded sick days, raises and stipends, Sandbrook gets close to $390,000 a year, so he's got no concept of managing the city and county's money responsibly.

And don't look to Coliseum Finance Director Ronald Lederkramer to help - he had amassed sick time valued at close to $11,000 (over 20 weeks worth) when he left last year.  And beyond that, he received thousands of dollars in payments from the Coliseum in recent years for medical costs that he said were not covered by insurance.  So outside of actual insurance, having a city job that syphons off taxpayers is the best insurance.  City Controller Wendy Greuel has withheld that sick time check pending an inquiry.  Sandbrook's office listed Lederkramer's status as "retired/pensioned," but  if he quit or was fired it would make him ineligible for a sick-leave check. 

This is just another small piece of a larger picture of financial mismanagement for the city and state.  Its only going to get uglier as more of these come to light.