Editorial Editorial (April 08, 2005)

Hospital board an easy touch

It is difficult to understand why directors of El Camino Hospital feel it is necessary to pay CEO Lee Domanico such a huge premium just for coming to work.

As Voice readers have learned over the last few weeks, Domanico receives $615,000 a year in salary and bonus plus a $9,000 car allowance, some $200,000 a year more than CEOs who manage similar Bay Area hospitals.

But that revelation was just the tip of the iceberg. Last week, the hospital released another package of information after the Voice refused to drop a California Public Records Act lawsuit, arguing that Domanico's complete compensation agreement must be made public. Here is what we now know about Domanico's compensation:

** Current base salary: $441,000 in 2004.

** Current bonus: $174,000, or 39.5 percent of base salary, $2,000 short of eligibility for up to 40 percent of salary.

** Car allowance: $9,000 a year.

** Home loan: $800,000 to $850,000 for 10 years to purchase Hillsborough home. Cost unknown, but at zero interest, value is $40,000 a year at 5 percent on $800,000.

** Retirement plan: value unknown.

** Retirement medical plan: $1,000 a month to cover CEO and his wife for life, regardless of whether he is employed by the hospital.

** Country club membership: $30,000 initiation fee and approximately $300 a month to join Los Altos Golf and Country Club.

** Termination agreement: $882,000 is the current cost to cover guaranteed salary for two years if terminated.

Hospital board members defend Domanico's pay scale, arguing that he turned the district around financially and brought in a $20.5 million profit last year, compared with a likely $13.4 million deficit when he took over in 2000. In addition, they say, the compensation package is comparable to other CEOs of similar-sized hospitals.

We don't agree, and doubt if residents of the hospital district in Mountain View, Los Altos, Cupertino and Sunnyvale would either. In our view, it is totally unnecessary to pile on such generous pay and benefits just to keep El Camino in the black.

From the day last October when the Voice first requested that the hospital district disclose the CEO's compensation, Domanico and other board members have refused to cooperate until pressured by the Voice lawsuit. Now, although the bulk of his compensation agreement has been made public, the district is refusing to provide details of Domanico's entire compensation package, saying it will do so when it files federal disclosure forms in November. As a result, the Voice filed another public records act request last week, demanding the immediate release of the CEO's home loan and retirement plan.

Why should the public wait another eight months for the hospital to disclose what is clearly public record? Is there something else to hide?

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