CA hospital CEO's pay stands out

Palomar Health CEO Michael Covert is certainly a standout in the State Controller's Office online database disclosing pay for local government employees. His pay eclipses almost all of the 740,000 employees statewide whose compensation is reported. Almost. With a new batch of data just uploaded for 2011, Covert's taxable wages ranked No. 2—for the third year running. The database was launched in 2010 in response to the outsize pay scandal involving the city administrator for the Los Angeles suburb of Bell, Robert Rizzo. Covert came in just below Rizzo for 2009 wages.