Politics

PALM DESERT (CBS) ― California is drowning in red ink. With thousands of state workers facing furloughs, the state is spending your money to send dozens of Caltrans workers, and lot of heavy equipment, to a luxury hotel resort in the desert for a convention.

Taxpayers paid for 52 Caltrans workers to attend a four-day national convention of state highway planners at a luxury hotel called Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, owned by Marriott. This high-end resort is filled with luxury rooms. It has exotic birds and gondola rides on a manmade lagoon where boats cruise from inside the expansive lobby to the sunshine outside. There is also a pristine golf course.

A producer and photographer for CBS 13 in Sacramento went undercover to this posh resort to follow the money. Caltrans workers were setting up booths for the conference. Caltrans Director Randell Iwasaki was on a computer for an hour at the hotel's internet café, and later meeting and greeting other transportation officials.

Not only did taxpayers pay for the meetings, meals, luxury rooms and travel expenses for 52 Caltrans workers, they also paid for thousands more in gas to bring in this artillery of heavy equipment that Caltrans rolled out for the convention, including a mobile transportation management center and a satellite truck to show delegates from other states.

19 Caltrans vehicles at the resort, some of them driven to Palm Desert from as far away as Marysville and Sacramento. At least four shuttle vans were also spotted. Delegates from around the country were escorted in these vans, free of charge, all around the Palm Desert area. And Caltrans workers were serving as chauffeurs' instead of fixing freeways or building bridges. How much is all of this costing California taxpayers?

"The final numbers aren't in yet, but it's gonna cost somewhere around $20,000," Caltrans Director Randell Iwasaki said.

Actually it's more than that. The hotel's fees alone were nearly $18,000, according to Caltrans own records. Plus, another $6,600 in conference fees and $3,800 more in air fare and car rentals for Caltrans workers so far. It adds up to $28,477 in preliminary costs, and that does not include food or other expenses. So, the final price tag will certainly be higher.

"These are the kinds of things that really frustrate taxpayers and cause a great deal of outrage to see money wasted in this fashion," said Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

Even more outrageous for taxpayers, Caltrans officials appear to have broken their own rules by attending a conference at this resort. In a memo obtained by CBS, former Caltrans Director Will Kempton said travel must be "confined to mission-critical functions" and that Caltrans employees should be "avoiding meetings that are scheduled in resort locations"

"Well I think what Will meant when he said this was where you can avoid going to resorts, you should do that," Iwasaki said in response to the memo.

Not only does it appear Caltrans officials violated their own travel policy, their trip to this paradise in Palm Desert goes against orders issued by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the travel ban, handed down by Schwarzenegger, he ordered "state agencies and departments to cancel or postpone any non-essential trips, such as seminars, conferences or training."

And the governor issued that order more than once. On at least three different occasions, December 2003, February 2008 and April 2009, Schwarzenegger issued orders banning all non-essential travel by state workers. But despite that order, the Governor's Office approved this trip.

"We have a ban on all non-essential travel. So very rarely do we approve any kind of travel like this. This was an exception," said Aaron McLear, Governor Schwarzenegger's Press Secretary.

They made an exception, they say, because they hoped by sending 52 Caltrans employees to this Palm Desert resort conference, that will lead to more money for California roads. Federal transportation officials were there also. If Caltrans officials meet federal transportation officials face to face, maybe they could convince the feds to give more money to California road projects. At least that's the plan.

Caltrans officials are confident the conference at the posh resort in Palm Desert will give them a good chance at getting tens of millions of dollars from the federal government.

"Was this a good investment? I think it was. I think ultimately Caltrans and California will be better positioned for the next surface transportation bill," Iwasaki said.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)