State agencies spend $423,000 on iPads

Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close State agencies spend $423,000 on iPads 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In the 19 months since Gov. Jerry Brown made a big deal of taking cell phones and cars away from government workers, state agencies have spent $423,000 on iPad purchases, a review of state records shows.

Among them:

-- $95,000 by the Department of Veterans Affairs (127 iPads).

-- $77,000 by the Department of Water Resources (110).

-- $65,416 by the Board of Equalization (62 or so).

-- $33,539 by Caltrans (about 30).

-- And $30,999 by the Department of General Services (66).

Records show that about $261,000 worth of the iPad purchases - more than half - came from agencies that report to the governor.

"It's just the kind of double standard that outrages taxpaying citizens and explains why they don't trust us," said Republican Assemblywoman Connie Conway of Tulare.

A few weeks back, we brought the case of the Department of Motor Vehicles to the attention of Brown's press secretary, Gil Duran. The DMV bought more than two dozen iPads, but the governor's office has now ordered that 11 of the devices be handed in - including the one that agency Director George Valverde got.

It's not the first time iPads have popped up in state workers' offices despite Brown's call for government to make do with less.

Back in June, the Department of Insurance - funded largely through fees and assessments on the insurance industry - handed out iPads costing about $1,000 apiece to 31 senior staffers.

A department spokesman told us the devices were part of a pilot program to increase efficiency and enhance the department's "paperless/green initiatives."

Duran says some of the iPads purchased by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Caltrans and other agencies are being used by doctors, engineers and others in the field who otherwise might have to rely on more expensive laptops.

But in many cases, Duran says, the devices are little more than a luxury that sends the wrong message during hard times.

"Let me put it this way," Duran said. "Everyone who has one in the governor's office paid for it personally."

Warrior waterfront: As meetings go, the Golden State Warriors' first get-together with neighbors last week about the team's proposed San Francisco waterfront arena was long on questions and short on answers.

No drawings, no traffic studies and no firm replies to such questions as how 20,000 fans are going to get across the Embarcadero at rush hour.

"They kept saying, 'We don't know, we don't know,' but they promised a lot of answers would be coming," said land-use attorney Sue Hestor.

"We are absolutely going to have answers," said project spokesman P.J. Johnston, "but this was just the first of what I expect will be a lot of meetings." Given that the Warriors want to have the term sheet in front of the Board of Supervisors by October and start work on the arena by 2014, answers had better start coming quickly.

Breed's blast: Fire Commissioner and District 5 supervisorial candidate London Breed has never been shy about speaking her mind - but she really went on an expletive tear when the Fog City Journal pressed her about her relationship with former Mayor Willie Brown, until recently one of her biggest backers.

"You think I give a f- about a Willie Brown at the end of the day when it comes to my community and the s- that people like Rose Pak and Willie Brown continue to do and try to control things," Breed told a Fog City blogger. "They don't f- control me - you go ask them why wouldn't you support London because she don't do what the hell I tell her to do. I don't do what no mother- body tells me to do."

She also said, "Willie Brown didn't wipe my ass when I was a baby - my grandmother took care of me."

As you might imagine, there's a backstory here.

Brown, now a Chronicle columnist, was a mentor of Breed's and helped get her on both the redevelopment and fire commissions.

But he's also a team player. And when Mayor Ed Lee appointed Pak's ally Christina Olague to the Board of Supervisors from District Five, he got with the plan. He even advised Breed, who had backed Dennis Herrera for mayor, not to run and instead hold out for an appointment.

She didn't listen, and Brown isn't happy. He's even been calling his friends asking why they're contributing to Breed.

So when the Fog City Journal asked Breed if she was Brown's "backup candidate," she went off like a Roman candle.

"I said what I said," Breed told us. "What I'm sorry about was the language."