PARSLEY SAGE ROSEMARY … AND CRIME?

The Sheet sat down with Tri-County Fair board members Judy Waggoner and Jaque Hickman on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the current state of afFairs following a state audit and the resignation of former Fair CEO Jen McGuire. 

Hickman’s demeanor could best be described as defiant during the two hours we spent in the Alta One conference room in Bishop.

Combative. Generally pissed off. 

She feels the audit performed by CDFA (California Department of Food and Agriculture, which serves as overseer of the state’s county fairs, was a hit job, undertaken more to further political careers than get at the truth or improve fair operations. 

And she declared bluntly, “Jen McGuire did not steal money.” 

This from a board member who has, on previous occasions, busted Fair CEO’s who were stealing money. 

Hickman knows the difference. 

The Sheet has read the 46-page audit in its entirety. Taken on its own, it does not paint a pretty picture.

It implies slipshod bookkeeping, employee double-dipping, the unwarranted granting of employee benefits, attempts at obfuscation and a lack of cooperation with auditors … the full gamut. 

For example, the state believes it is owed $84,500 in back rent because McGuire lived rent-free at the Fairgrounds (occupying two lush RV spaces) from December, 2018 through February, 2024. 

Hickman said the Board had signed off on the free rent as part of McGuire’s compensation package to augment her relatively low salary (Approx. $7,000/month) and make the position more attractive. 

But apparently, the board wasn’t authorized to grant the free rent.

Fair auditors told the board, “Not knowing is no excuse” said Hickman. 

But as she points out, the state provides no training, no manual, no support for Fair boards.

Well, not quite. They make you watch sex harassment awareness videos, and they’re really focused on educating boards re Brown Act violations, but there are no classes on, say, fiscal management, or accounting, or oversight, et. al. 

State auditors also believe McGuire was trying to hide the fact that she was involved in a personal relationship with a fellow Fairgrounds employee. 

There’s a form you have to fill out for that.

And that this partner was apparently “double-dipping” (doing freelance work in Ventura while on the clock in Bishop). 

Waggoner and Hickman said the part about trying to hide the relationship (exacerbated by the state trying to confiscate and examine the employee’s work laptop during Mule Days) was bs. 

The state auditor claims McGuire and her partner conspired to give her the wrong laptop to take back to Sacramento.

This, following a tense conversation where the state auditor asked McGuire’s partner where she sleeps at night. 

McGuire’s partner, understandably, is said to have replied, “None of your business.” 

Waggoner said the relationship with CDFA pretty much headed down the rabbit hole from there. And accelerated when Waggoner suggested to CDFA leadership that a civil rights case be opened in connection with the audit report – which she deemed harassment. 

So where do we stand today? 

CDFA’s local branch chief Mike Francesoni is now serving as the Fairgrounds Interim Director, at least through the Fair (Labor Day weekend). 

McGuire, if she wishes to challenge the report and events leading ups to her resignation, will have to hire her own labor lawyer – but with no income coming in to do so. 

Though she had served as CEO of both the Tri-County and Ventura Fairgrounds simultaneously over the past year, her salary had never been adjusted to reflect the increase in responsibilty. 

The state, claimed Hickman, also reneged on a verbal agreement to have McGuire’s mileage between Bishop and Ventura reimbursed.

So there are compensation issues. 

The Board, says Hickman, may also have to lawyer up. 

Hickman, who said four other large Fairs have crumbled in the wake of recent audits (she thinks CDFA Deputy Secretary Michael Flores, a close friend of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is trying to make a name for himself by saying he ‘cleaned up the Fair Industry’) is herself stepping away from public life. 

“This is why people are terrified of serving on boards,” said Hickman. “I’ve always been an advocate of community service, but community service has become punitive.” 

My impression, as I read the state auditor’s report, was thus. 

Some people are really great administrators. Some are really great salespeople. Rarely do you get both qualities in the same package. 

Inyo County owes a debt of gratitude to Jen McGuire for what she did to build up the Fairgrounds and make it more relevant than it’s ever been. 

She may not have been so diligent in micromanaging the books, but what’s interesting is that the Fair board, according to Hickman, traditionally paid the state to do the accounting for the Fairgrounds. 

So whatever issues the state has with the Tri-County Fairgrounds have been hiding in plain sight. The state had last performed an audit back in 2009.  So if you’re gonna critique mismanagement … it’s a target-rich environment up-and-down the chain. 

Even a Fairgrounds Director like Jim Tatum at one point mismanaged a PERS issue which cost the Fairgrounds tens of thousands of dollars in restitution. 

What makes me nervous is what happens after Labor Day. Will a Fair Board be reinstated? Will anyone wish to serve on it? Will a permanent Fair CEO be hired? Who would take the job? This is a dark moment. 

It takes a guy like Leonard Cohen to sum up a moment like this. 

If you are the dealer, I’m out of the game

If you are the healer, it means I’m broken and lame

If thine is the glory, then mine must be the shame

You want it darker

We kill the flame