CHP Overtime Scandal In The Making?

Much ink has been spilled in the last year by monetary abuses within the University of California system. The SacBee ran an article today suggesting that the Highway Patrol may be in for the same treatment. Bee writer John Hill obtained an e-mail detailed intentional lax granting of overtime in the CHP's Valley Division, a change which coincides nicely with the end of the budget year. Fran Clader, CHP's spokeswoman, denies that the profligate use of overtime was intended to use up the budget; instead, she claims that the CHP conserves some OT money throughout the year for emergencies and spends the balance at the end of each year on beefing up core services. Which sounds suspiciously like trying to use up the OT budget to avoid cuts . . . Full story