Now we know why Pinnacol Assurance chief executive Ken Ross was hoping that what happened in Pebble Beach stayed in Pebble Beach.
Ross had more than 300,000 reasons to do all he could to keep anyone from seeing the details of the quasi-public company’s junket last spring to the legendary golf courses along the Pacific Coast.
Thanks to a judge’s ruling, Pinnacol had to release details of the trip taken by top performers of the state’s workers’ compensation insurer. It turned out the mid-recession junket cost $318,717. That includes approximately $20,000 spent on three Pinnacol board members and spouses who went along for the ride and also for what is called, in junket-speak, the amenities.
We wrote last May that Ross’ “erratic behavior” — which included the infamous 7News video of Ross shoving the TV station’s reporter, Tony Kovaleski — left us to wonder whether he should keep his job. The evidence is now conclusive. It’s time for Ross to step down.
And if Ross won’t resign, then Pinnacol’s state-appointed board should fire him. The problem is, Ross was joined on the trip by board chairman Gary Johnson and members Debra Lovejoy and Ryan Hettich. If he doesn’t have their votes in the bag — or goody bag — it’s easy to see how it might look that way.
The goody bag was certainly full. The details are public, and it’s hard to pick a favorite. Maybe it was the $325 for the painted-pink “ladies’ ” golf balls. Maybe it was the $1,625 for 13 bottles of Silver Oak wine. Maybe it was the 245 bucks for seven glasses of 30-year-old Scotch. Of course, there was the $19,120 dinner at Club XIX.
If you want your trips lavish, it’s hard to find a better spot than the Lodge at Pebble Beach, which calls itself a “once-in-a-lifetime experience of well-appointed guest rooms and suites, elegant dining, incomparable scenery and, of course, our world-class golf, Spa and recreation.”
The Pinnacol guests took full advantage — or sometimes didn’t take advantage but still had to pay.
It wasn’t just that the rooms cost as much as $1,400. One person in the party didn’t show up for the first night — for which Pinnacol paid the full $1,400. One foursome didn’t make it for a round of golf — for which Pinnacol paid $1,040.
But it wasn’t all a no-show. According to the receipts made public on the orders of Denver District Judge Morris B. Hoffman, there were massages and pedicures and golf and lots of booze, at a cost of over $20,000.
It’s the kind of place where you can get a Papaya Pineapple Scrub, in which your skin is exfoliated by papayas and pineapples and “finely crushed grape seeds.”
The day after 7News reporter Kovaleski confronted Ross on the trip, Ross went for the massage and sports pedicure. The pedicure comes, of course, with your choice of beer. “After sports or a hard day at the office,” reads the brochure, “your feet will thank you.”
It’s time for Pinnacol — which was established by the state as insurer of last resort and enjoys large tax breaks — to tell Ross thank you and then goodbye.
