Pubdate: Sat, 09 Jun 2001 Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX) Copyright: 2001 San Antonio Express-News Contact: http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384 Author: Peggy Fikac, Chief, Express-News Austin Bureau STATE DRUG OFFICIAL DEMOTED AFTER AUDIT AUSTIN -- The director of the governor's Texas Narcotics Control Program is being demoted after an audit found nearly $44,000 in questionable expenditures on such things as golf outings, alcohol and plaques from 1996 to 2000, generally related to conferences for local law enforcement officials, Gov. Rick Perry's executive assistant said Friday. Robert J. "Duke" Bodisch Sr. has been on paid leave for about three weeks during the audit. He will be reassigned within the governor's Criminal Justice Division, which includes the narcotics program. His new job will be determined by the division's new director, Jay Kimbrough, said Barry McBee, Perry's executive assistant. McBee described the reassignment as a demotion. Bodisch, contacted at home, declined comment. None of the money, which came from conference fees, was spent for Bodisch's personal enrichment, McBee said. He said questionable expenditures were due to "lapses in judgment" and that the money was spent on activities meant to build morale. Findings by the outside consultant hired to do the audit will be turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice because the state program administers federal funds, McBee said. "They may come back and say all of this was OK. But we obviously felt there was sufficient reason for us to take action now," he said. The audit, prompted by a tip from an employee within the division, focused on financial activity of annual program conferences in 1996-2000. McBee stressed that the funds involved were conference fees, not federal grant money that the state program uses to fund local drug control activities. The narcotics program in fiscal year 2001 oversees $35.8 million in grants. Local law enforcement officials who attended the conferences heard from "speakers in the world of drug control," McBee said. The conferences included workshops and presentations on safety, investigations, intelligence-gathering, information-sharing and ethics. The audit found that of $161,446.55 spent on the conferences $117,481.92 appeared to fall within federal guidelines. This money went to speaker payments, audio-visual equipment and rentals, and food. The report said the rest appeared to fall outside of those guidelines. Of that money, $9,265.42 went for trophies, plaques and engraving. Another $7,584.48 paid for trinkets such as coffee cups, decals and paper weights. A total of $27,114.73 was spent over the five years in a category called "other," which included flowers, gift certificates, alcoholic beverages, entertainment, photography, golf outings and candles. The expenses mostly were related to meetings and conferences for local law enforcement officials, McBee said. The only exception he cited was for the flowers, sent when a member of a local task force or family member had died. As for the alcohol, McBee said he understands that purchase involved one 1996 dinner, soon after Bodisch was hired. Planning for that year's conference had already started. "Mr. Bodisch said he didn't set out to do that," McBee said of the expenditure on alcohol. McBee said the expenditures "were all spent, in Mr. Bodisch's mind, for the overall good of the program -- to build morale, to build esprit de corps, to show people in the state we care about them in Austin." As director of the Texas Narcotics Control Program, Bodisch was paid $59,170 a year. "Mr. Bodisch has been advised that this demotion in responsibility may be accompanied by a demotion in his pay," McBee said. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens