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Federal Fumble in Lake County

Below is the last article that appeared in The Press Democrat regarding Ruth Lincoln. I don't know if there is going to be a follow on this. I will ask the reporter who wrote this story.

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
DATE: Sunday, August 12, 2001
By UCILIA WANG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
EDITION: CITY
SECTION: LOCAL
PAGE: B1

OFFICIAL TARGET OF FEDERAL PROBE

LAKE COUNTY
Mendocino College demoted an official who allegedly helped her husband benefit financially from a program she managed, according to court records. The action by Ruth Lincoln, who subsequently resigned to become Lake County's health services director, was the subject of a criminal investigation by Lake County prosecutors. District Attorney Gary Luck said he referred the conflict-of-interest case to the U.S. attorney in San Francisco sometime in the past two months.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney said there has been no indictment but declined further comment.
Lincoln was the assistant dean in charge of the college's Lake County campus when she placed a student at her husband's insurance company in 1999 through a job training program, according to court records.
A search warrant affidavit, prepared in April by Lake County district attorney's investigator Craig Woodworth, said Lincoln's actions may have violated the state's conflict-of-interest law, which prohibits public officials from using their positions for their own financial gain.
Luck determined it should be a federal case because it involves a welfare program funded by federal dollars.
According to the affidavit, Lincoln approved a contract to place a student at the Lincoln-Leavitt Insurance Agency through a job training program under the state's welfare-to-work program, which is known as CalWorks.
As a result, the insurance company was reimbursed $2,520 from CalWorks for part of the student's salary, the affidavit said.
The insurance agency is co-owned by Lincoln's husband, Tom Lincoln, who declined comment. CalWorks was created in 1997 to conform with sweeping changes Congress made to the welfare system a year earlier. It requires welfare recipients to get jobs or participate in work-related activities, such as job training and vocational education, in order to get welfare benefits.
The job training program at the college reimburses employers up to 75 percent of the salary of students who work at the businesses.
The search warrant affidavit said Ruth Lincoln was demoted after the college conducted its own investigation into the incident.
Lincoln declined to comment on the criminal investigation. But she said the timing of the investigation coincides with her filing of a claim against the college.
``All I can tell you is that I have a claim against the college, and the timing of this is suspect to me,'' Lincoln said. ``This smacks of vindictiveness.''
She declined to discuss the claim against the college.
Mendocino College President Carl Ehmann could not be reached for comment Friday.
Earlier in the week, Ehmann declined to discuss the college's investigation into Lincoln's conduct while managing the CalWorks program. Lincoln began working at the college as a health class instructor in 1981. She became an assistant dean overseeing the college's Lake County campus in 1988, said Ross Beck, the college's spokesman.
Lincoln asked to go back to teaching in January, Beck said. She resigned March 22, the day she became Lake County's health services director, earning an annual salary of about $64,260 a year.
Lake County Supervisor Ed Robey declined to comment on the investigation but said he can ``vouch for Ruth Lincoln's character any day of the week.
``Ruth is one of the finest persons I have ever met in my life. I am glad she is working for the county,'' said Robey, who has taught computer classes at the college's Lake County campus. Luck said he isn't forwarding the case to the state's Fair Political
Practices Commission, which investigates conflict-of-interest violations by public officials and treats those cases as civil -- not criminal -- matters.
``The case is no longer in my office and I don't plan to take any further action,'' Luck said.
You can reach Staff Writer Ucilia Wang at 462-6473 or e-mail "mailto:uwang@pressdemocrat.com".

suggest: I contacted the Federal Attorney's Office in San Francisco and they indicate that they can't find any info: re: Ruth Lincoln. Did Gary Luck send the file there? The whole story is somewhat suspicious, to say the least. Perhaps you can find out and enlighten those of us who want to know the truth. Thanks for all your hard work and fine articles.

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