Husband of Molina Still in Business With County : Government: Despite her campaign pledge withdrawing a $100,000 contract, Ron Martinez’s firm is doing the same work--without approval by the Board of Supervisors.

A company owned by Supervisor Gloria Molina’s husband has continued to receive county business, even though a contract for the same work was withdrawn from board consideration earlier this year to avoid political controversy during Molina’s campaign.

Molina said she has not voted on any contract involving her husband, Ron Martinez, or his firm, PeopleWorks. And she said she honored a campaign pledge that her husband would withdraw a $100,000 employee training contract from consideration before the Board of Supervisors.

But Robert Arias, the county’s affirmative action officer, said that he authorized Martinez to proceed with sensitivity training for employees after the contract had been pulled from the board agenda in February. Arias said the work was necessary to address federal allegations that the county Department of Health Services discriminates against Latino employees.

Martinez said last week that he expects to be paid $100,000, although he does not have a written contract. “You got us,” he said. “We’re spending $100,000 with no authority from the board.”

Molina said that she is unaware of the details surrounding her husband’s work for the county.

“I guess that I should (have known),” Molina said. “But I am not a partner in his business. I have a job that keeps me busy about 80 hours a week. . . . We just don’t try to discuss each other’s business in the couple of hours we get.”

Martinez was first hired by the county in 1987 to assist in responding to allegations against the health department by the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. His firm also received a $13,000 contract last year to develop a program to assist companies owned by minorities and women in bidding for county contracts.

In February, a few weeks before Molina’s election, the proposed $100,000 contract for Martinez’s firm was scheduled to go before the supervisors for approval. But it was withdrawn by Arias, after consulting with Martinez.

“When I saw it was going to be a political football, Ron and I reached the same conclusion, to just pull it,” Arias said.

At the time, the contract had been criticized by state Sen. Art Torres, Molina’s opponent in the 1st District supervisorial race.

“If we’re going to talk about ethics in government, does that mean your husband is going to withdraw his $100,000 contract with the county?” Torres asked Molina during a televised debate.

“Absolutely,” Molina responded. Later that day, Martinez made the same pledge.

The contract called for PeopleWorks to design and implement a “cultural sensitivity” training program for managers in the health department.

Sometime after the contract was removed from the agenda, Arias said that he told Martinez to do the work, but there is now confusion over how he will be paid because there is no written contract.

Arias said he thought that health department officials would handle the details, and Assistant Health Director Irving Cohen said he thought that Arias would draw up a contract for Martinez’s services.

Cohen blamed the problem on a misunderstanding and said he is sending a letter to Martinez advising him not to conduct any more training until the county figures out whether he should continue to provide the work and how he would be paid.

Cohen said Martinez will be paid for the training he has conducted so far. Martinez has submitted a $14,000 invoice for that work, Arias said.

Arias and Martinez said there is nothing improper about having PeopleWorks perform the training. They said that the county made a commitment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to conduct the training before the contract had been raised as a campaign issue.

Martinez said that Arias’ action amounted to an extension of employee training that he already was doing.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has accused the Department of Health Services of discriminating against Latinos in hiring and promotions, especially at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in South Los Angeles.

Arias said that Martinez, a former investigator for the federal agency, had been instrumental in helping the county try to settle the complaint. Martinez “had helped set up the unit that was investigating us,” Arias said. “That was worth a gold mine.”

According to county officials, Martinez this fiscal year has county contracts totaling $73,999.

Martinez said he also expects to be paid $100,000 for the training program. “My lawyer says that I have a contract with the Department of Health Services for $100,000 to conduct this work,” Martinez said. He said the county had informed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that he would provide the training.

But Cohen said Monday that the county’s pledge to the commission did not specify that Martinez had to provide the training.

Commission officials have declined to comment on their investigation.

Arias said that he thought the Department of Health Services would pay Martinez from a special fund set up to deal with the commission’s charges or award Martinez four contracts--each below $25,000, the threshold that would require board approval.

Arias last July approved a $24,999.99 contract--one cent below the threshold--to assist the affirmative action compliance officer in developing a strategy to respond to the commission’s charges. Cohen said he thought that Arias would pay for the sensitivity training by Martinez through another $24,999 contract.

Molina said that her husband will be curtailing his work for the county, once this matter is resolved.

“When I was on the City Council . . . he did not do business whatsoever with the city,” she said, “and that is going to be the same situation with the county.”